Scene layout

The Simpson's kitchen a scene for 2D animation

The designing of the scenes is a huge part of the animation, whilst they're rarely the main focus of the shots, it is important to have good quality, in keeping scenery around the characters that they can interact with. It is also a key part in determining the mood of the scene and must always take into consideration the use of cameras and positioning of the characters. Naturally with some animations the importance of the scene is varied to others, for example a mobile phone advert might be simply set against a purely black background, a feature film however will require a number of extremely detailed high quality scenes. The style of the scene can also change, for example a 2D animation will have a drastically different scene to a 3D animation and naturally scenes for films are going to be completely different to scenes for video games. Also, when creating scenes it is vital to consider the way in which characters will interact with it, will they simply wander past it, or will they proceed to blow holes in the walls, or pick up one of the tables and throw it across the room?Many artists specialise in scene layout and below is a link to a website detailing the requirements that someone looking to get a job in 2D scene layouts should fulfil. 
http://www.creativeskillset.org/animation/careers/2D_computer/article_4635_1.asp
 Also here are two examples of scenes, both very different but both fulfil what is expected of them. 

Shrek's swamp a 3D scene