Picture this: A lone train carriage rattles through the Japanese countryside. Outside the window, rice paddies stretch out like a patchwork quilt, shimmering under the weight of a summer afternoon. Sunlight filters through the leaves of a distant forest, and impossibly fluffy white clouds drift across a sky so blue it almost hurts to look at. You can practically feel the heat, hear the cicadas, and smell the sweet, earthy scent of the grass.
Now, where are the characters? What’s the plot? For that one perfect moment, it doesn’t matter. You’ve been completely transported, not by dialogue or action, but by the background.
This is the magic of anime scenery art. While we rightfully celebrate the dynamic characters and intricate plots that define our favourite shows, the worlds they inhabit are often the unsung heroes. These meticulously crafted environments are far more than just pretty pictures; they are silent storytellers, emotional anchors, and the very soul of the anime we love.
Today, we’re going to pull back the curtain. We’ll journey from the humble beginnings of background art to the jaw-dropping digital masterpieces of today. We’ll celebrate the legendary artists who paint with light and emotion, and explore how these static images breathe life into every frame. So get yourself a cup of tea, settle in, and let’s get lost in the scenery.
What is Anime Scenery Art? (And Why It’s So Much More Than a Backdrop)
In the industry, it’s officially known as “background art,” and the artist responsible is the Art Director, or bijutsu kantoku. In Japanese, the art itself is often called haikei. But calling it a “background” feels like a disservice. It implies something secondary, something you’re not supposed to focus on. In reality, it’s a foundational pillar of the entire animated experience, serving several crucial roles.
1. World-Building on a Grand Scale
This is the most obvious function. Scenery art establishes the where and when. Is our story set in a neon-drenched cyberpunk metropolis like Neo-Tokyo in Akira? A tranquil, spiritual forest inhabited by ancient gods, as in Princess Mononoke? Or a nostalgic, picture-perfect vision of 1950s rural Japan, as seen in My Neighbour Totoro?
The architecture, the technology (or lack thereof), the flora and fauna, the very colour of the sky—these elements instantly communicate the rules and culture of the world. A single establishing shot of a bustling city street can tell you about the society’s economic status, its level of technological advancement, and even its cultural values, all before a character says a single word.
2. Setting the Mood and Atmosphere
This is where scenery art transcends function and becomes pure poetry. The environment is a powerful tool for manipulating the viewer’s emotions.
Think of the films of Makoto Shinkai. In The Garden of Words, the perpetual, gentle rain and the lush, glistening greens of the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden create an atmosphere of profound melancholy, intimacy, and quiet longing. The rain isn’t just weather; it’s a cocoon for the two main characters, a shared secret space away from the rest of the world.
Conversely, the bright, sun-drenched summer days in a slice-of-life anime like K-On! Evoke feelings of warmth, friendship, and carefree youth. The cramped, shadowy, and cluttered apartment in Perfect Blue creates a suffocating sense of paranoia and psychological decay. The artists use light, colour, and even the weather to tell us how we should feel.
3. Symbolism and Foreshadowing
Great background art is layered with meaning. It can subtly reflect a character’s internal state or hint at events to come. A recurring image of a desolate train crossing might symbolise transition, separation, or a fateful decision. A dying, withered tree in an otherwise healthy forest could foreshadow a coming corruption or sickness.
In the Monogatari Series, the stark, minimalist, and often surrealist backgrounds are a direct reflection of the characters’ psychological landscapes. The world changes based on their emotional state, turning everyday locations into abstract art pieces filled with symbolic meaning. The scenery isn’t just where the story happens; it is the story, visualised.
A Brief Journey Through Time: The Evolution of Anime Backgrounds
The stunningly detailed vistas we see today are the result of decades of artistic and technological evolution. The journey is as fascinating as the art itself.
The Early Days (1960s-1970s)
In the pioneering era of television anime like Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, the focus was almost entirely on character animation and telling a story on a limited budget and a more constrained timetable. Backgrounds were often simple, functional, and stylised. They did their job of establishing a location, but they rarely drew attention to themselves. The art was created using traditional cel animation, where characters were painted on transparent celluloid sheets and laid over a painted background.
The Golden Age & The OVA Boom (1980s)
This decade was a game-changer. The rise of the feature film and the direct-to-video market (Original Video Animation, or OVA) meant bigger budgets and more creative freedom. This was the era where background art truly began to shine as an art form in its own right.
Studio Ghibli, founded in 1985, set a new standard with films like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Their worlds felt lush, lived-in, and full of history. At the same time, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (1988) delivered a vision of a futuristic city so dense, gritty, and detailed that it remains a benchmark for sci-fi world-building to this day. Artists were painstakingly painting these magnificent scenes by hand with poster paints and gouache, and their immense skill was on full display.
The Digital Revolution (Late 1990s – 2000s)
Technology began to shift the landscape. While artists had been using computers for certain tasks, the late 90s saw a major transition from physical cels and paints to digital workflows. Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke (1997) was a pivotal film, masterfully blending traditional hand-painted backgrounds with digital composition and early CGI.
By the 2000s, digital painting using software like Adobe Photoshop and graphics tablets had become the industry standard. This revolutionised the process. It allowed for easier corrections, more complex lighting and atmospheric effects (like fog, lens flares, and intricate shadows), and seamless integration with 3D models for creating complex architecture or vehicles. Some purists feared this would lead to a sterile, soulless look, but in the hands of skilled artists, digital tools simply became a new, more powerful paintbrush.
The Modern Era of “Aesthetic” Art (2010s – Present)
Welcome to the age of “scenery porn.” This term, used lovingly by fans, describes anime where the background art is so breathtakingly beautiful that it’s a primary draw.
No one embodies this era more than director Makoto Shinkai and his studio, CoMix Wave Films. Starting with works like 5 Centimetres per Second and reaching global fame with Your Name and Weathering with You, Shinkai has pioneered a style of hyper-realistic yet deeply romanticised scenery. His process often involves taking photographs of real locations and then digitally painting over them, enhancing colours, light, and detail to an almost supernatural level of beauty. He turns a mundane Tokyo street corner into a masterpiece of light and shadow, and his iconic skies, with their dramatic cloud formations and saturated sunsets, are a brand in themselves.
Today, studios like Kyoto Animation (Violet Evergarden), P.A. Works (A Lull in the Sea: Nagi-Asu), and Ufotable (Demon Slayer) continue to push the boundaries, each with their own unique and stunning approach to creating the worlds our favourite stories unfold in.
The Masters Behind the Masterpieces: Key Artists and Studios
Just as we know the names of great directors and character designers, we should know the names of the art directors who build the worlds. Here are just a few of the titans of the industry.
Kazuo Oga
If you love the look of Studio Ghibli films, you love the work of Kazuo Oga. As the art director for My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away (and a background artist on many others), Oga defined the Ghibli aesthetic. His style is characterised by a deep reverence for nature. His forests feel ancient and alive, his countrysides are filled with a tangible sense of nostalgia, and his use of soft, natural light is unparalleled. He doesn’t just paint a tree; he paints the feeling of standing under that tree on a warm summer day. Nature is a character in his paintings.
Shichirō Kobayashi (1932-2022)
A true legend with a career spanning over five decades, Shichirō Kobayashi had a distinctively bold and expressive style. The founder of Kobayashi Production, he was the art director for masterpieces like the 1997 series Berserk, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Lupin III’s The Castle of Cagliostro. His work is less concerned with photo-realism and more with emotional impact. He used rough, visible brushstrokes, dramatic colour choices, and a slightly distorted perspective to create worlds that felt like expressionist paintings, perfectly matching the often theatrical or grim tones of the stories he helped tell.
Hiromasa Ogura
When you think of the definitive look of 90s cyberpunk anime, you are likely thinking of the work of Hiromasa Ogura. As the art director for Mamoru Oshii’s groundbreaking film Ghost in the Shell (1995), Ogura created a vision of a futuristic city that was dense, humid, gritty, and hauntingly beautiful. His cityscapes feel like real, sprawling urban environments, with a sense of decay and history layered beneath the high-tech gloss. He is a master of urban atmosphere, able to convey the loneliness and grandeur of a metropolis in a single frame.
Makoto Shinkai & CoMix Wave Films
While Shinkai is the director, his artistic vision is so singular and so focused on the integration of scenery that he must be included here. He directs his art teams at CoMix Wave Films to produce some of the most recognisable and influential background art of the 21st century. The hallmarks are all there: dramatic “god ray” lighting, sparkling lens flares, impossibly detailed clouds, and colours so vibrant they pop off the screen. Shinkai’s work elevates the beauty of the mundane, finding profound artistry in a vending machine at dusk or the reflection of city lights in a puddle.
The Artist’s Toolkit: How Are These Worlds Created?
So how does a blank screen become a lush forest or a sprawling city? The process is a blend of artistry and technical skill.
The Traditional Process (Pre-Digital)
In the cel animation era, the process was entirely physical.
- Concept Art & Layout: The art director and their team would create concept paintings to define the look and feel of the world. Then, for each scene, a layout artist would draw a detailed line drawing of the background, establishing perspective and composition.
- Painting: This layout would be transferred to a sheet of thick paper or illustration board. The background artists would then meticulously paint the scene using poster colours or acrylic gouache—opaque water-based paints that provide a flat, vibrant finish. This required immense skill, as there was no “undo” button.
- Compositing: The finished painting was then placed under the animation camera, and the transparent cels with the characters painted on them were layered on top to be photographed, frame by frame.
The Modern Digital Process
Today, the process is largely digital, but the foundational principles remain the same.
- Concept & 3D Blockouts: The process still begins with concept art. For complex scenes with a lot of architecture or moving camera shots, a basic 3D model of the environment might be created first. This helps ensure perspective and scale are correct from any angle.
- Digital Layout & Painting: The layout is then drawn digitally. Afterwards, the background artists get to work, painting the scene in software like Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint using professional graphics tablets (like Wacom’s). They use custom digital brushes to mimic the texture of traditional paints or to create unique effects.
- Photobashing & Texturing: A common modern technique is “photobashing,” where artists will incorporate and paint over parts of photographs to add realistic textures and details quickly. This isn’t tracing; it’s a skilful collage technique used to build a believable world.
- Compositing & Effects: The finished digital background is then sent to the compositing team. They digitally layer the animated characters over the background and add final lighting effects, atmospheric particles (like dust or rain), camera focus effects, and colour grading to make the final shot seamless and beautiful.
How to Truly Appreciate Anime Scenery Art
Want to deepen your appreciation for this incredible art form? The next time you sit down to watch an anime, try these simple things.
- Hit the Pause Button: Seriously. In a beautiful establishing shot, just pause the show. Let your eyes wander. Look at the details in the corners of the frame. Notice the textures on a wall, the way light is hitting a window, or the individual leaves on a tree. You’ll be amazed at what you’ve been missing.
- Ask “Why?”: Look at a scene and ask yourself what the background is telling you. Why is this room so clean and minimalist? Why is the sky this particular shade of orange? What does the crumbling architecture say about this society? The art always has a purpose.
- Follow the Artists: When a show’s art style really captivates you, look up the name of the Art Director (bijutsu kantoku). You can usually find this information on sites like Anime News Network or AniDB. You might discover that many of your favourite-looking shows share the same artistic visionary behind them.
- Explore Art Books: Many popular anime films and series release gorgeous, oversized art books. These are treasure troves filled with concept sketches, finished background plates without the characters, and interviews with the artists. They offer an unparalleled look into the creative process.
Conclusion
Anime scenery art is the stage upon which our most beloved stories play out. It’s the rain on the windowpane during a heartfelt confession, the sprawling city that dwarfs a lonely hero, and the magical forest that promises adventure. It is both the canvas and a part of the painting itself.
From the hand-painted cels of the masters like Kazuo Oga to the digitally enhanced dreamscapes of Makoto Shinkai, this art form has continued to evolve, pushing the boundaries of what we thought animation could be. These artists and their teams pour countless hours into creating worlds that feel just as real and emotionally resonant as the characters who walk through them.
So the next time you watch an anime, take a moment. Look past the action, beyond the dialogue, and just see the world. Appreciate the silent, beautiful, and powerful stories being told by the scenery. You’ll find that a whole new layer of artistry has been waiting for you there all along.
Disclaimer
The world of anime background art is vast and filled with hundreds of incredibly talented artists and studios. This blog post mentions only a small handful of prominent figures to illustrate the history and impact of the art form. Many legends and modern masters were not included due to the constraints of a single article. The opinions expressed here are subjective and intended to foster appreciation and further exploration. I highly encourage readers to seek out the art directors and background artists for their favourite shows and discover the incredible breadth of talent in the industry.
