At an very early stage of the conception of Echoes I knew, that I wanted the backgrounds to looks like painted pictures. So indeed, all backgrounds were planned to be hand painted.

Nevertheless, I wanted to create the feeling that you could walk into this picture when the camera moves.

So, the first step was painting some sample objects to get a feeling of what the backgrounds could look like. I wasn´t quite sure, if a watercolour look or a gouache paint look would fit my need better, so I started with watercolour, which usually use for sketches, illustrations, or moodboards.

I wanted everything look a bit decayed und rusty, as the mayor location of Echoes was a huge abandonned complex. Below you can see some of the first texture concepts for my backgrounds.