Someone told me my backgrounds were too busy and it clicked

I had this piece I spent 12 hours on and a guy in a critique group just said 'the background is fighting the subject.' I zoomed in and yeah, he was right. Now I always blur or mute the background layer before I even start detailing it. Has anyone else had one of those simple comments that just stuck with you?

2 comments

2 Comments

hill.andrew14d ago

Man I had this happen with a painting of an old farmhouse I did back in 2021. Someone just said "the sky is stealing the show" and I realized I had way too much going on with clouds and light effects. Now I keep backgrounds like 30% opacity at most and just hint at things. It sounds dumb but that one sentence changed how I think about every piece.

patricia_green2114d ago

30% opacity sounds crazy specific, wait you actually measure that?