WIP: Blurred Backgrounds (Patreon)

While I'm still working on this, I thought I'd show you how I make blurred backgrounds!

Blurred backgrounds are a quick-and-dirty go-to method for me to add a background to a picture that didn't originally have one. They're fairly easy to make and add extra depth to a piece. They're not spectacular I'll admit, but they work in a pinch.

So to start, I paint my background with simple shapes and colors, adding details with different shades and hues (such as the different colored "planks" on the side of this ship, for example). It's rather crude and even sloppy looking, but since it's all going to be blurred anyway, it doesn't matter too much as long as everything's proportional. Then I do some simple shading via the dodge/blur tools.

After that, I apply the Gaussian Blur to the entire background object (the sky here is a separate layer), which allows me to control the amount of blur necessary, just enough to keep it recognizable without being distracting. I also added some clouds here with a soft brush.

Finally I use adjustment filters to tweak the colors and lighting to my liking.

As an added note: if I wanted to add some extra depth and detail to a background like this, I could make one or more layers below it and apply a stronger blur for more faraway objects. Or even having something in the foreground poking in from out of frame (leaves, a doorframe, the bars of a cell, etc) and blur that as well.