diff --git a/data/pref.xml b/data/pref.xml
index b7b269072..5ef71b5d5 100644
--- a/data/pref.xml
+++ b/data/pref.xml
@@ -261,7 +261,6 @@
       <option id="overlay_enabled" type="bool" default="false" />
       <option id="overlay_size" type="int" default="5" />
       <option id="opacity" type="int" default="255" />
-      <option id="background" type="app::Color" default="app::Color::fromRgb(180, 180, 180, 220)" />
     </section>
     <section id="onionskin">
       <option id="active" type="bool" default="false" migrate="Onionskin.Enabled" />
diff --git a/data/widgets/timeline_conf.xml b/data/widgets/timeline_conf.xml
index 9c5e28a49..0c70b5a67 100644
--- a/data/widgets/timeline_conf.xml
+++ b/data/widgets/timeline_conf.xml
@@ -11,10 +11,6 @@
     <check id="thumb_overlay_enabled" text="Overlay"/>
     <label text="Size:" />
     <slider min="2" max="10" id="thumb_overlay_size" cell_align="horizontal" width="128" />
-
-    <label text="Background:" />
-    <colorpicker id="thumb_background" expansive="true" cell_hspan="2" />
-
   </grid>
   <separator cell_hspan="2" text="Onion Skin:" left="true" horizontal="true" />
   <grid columns="2">
diff --git a/src/app/thumbnails.cpp b/src/app/thumbnails.cpp
index a357f5093..c461a9171 100644
--- a/src/app/thumbnails.cpp
+++ b/src/app/thumbnails.cpp
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ namespace app {
       DocumentPreferences& docPref = Preferences::instance().document(document);
 
       int opacity = docPref.thumbnails.opacity();
-      gfx::Color background = color_utils::color_for_ui(docPref.thumbnails.background());
+      doc::color_t bg1 = color_utils::color_for_image(docPref.bg.color1(), image->pixelFormat());
+      doc::color_t bg2 = color_utils::color_for_image(docPref.bg.color2(), image->pixelFormat());
 
       gfx::Size image_size = image->size();
 
@@ -51,10 +52,32 @@ namespace app {
       }
 
       const doc::Sprite* sprite = document->sprite();
+      // TODO doc::Image::createCopy() from pre-rendered checkered background
       base::UniquePtr<doc::Image> thumb_img(doc::Image::create(
         image->pixelFormat(), thumb_size.w, thumb_size.h));
 
-      clear_image(thumb_img.get(), background);
+      double alpha = opacity / 255.0;
+      uint8_t bg_r[] = { rgba_getr(bg1), rgba_getr(bg2) };
+      uint8_t bg_g[] = { rgba_getg(bg1), rgba_getg(bg2) };
+      uint8_t bg_b[] = { rgba_getb(bg1), rgba_getb(bg2) };
+      uint8_t bg_a[] = { rgba_geta(bg1), rgba_geta(bg2) };
+
+      doc::color_t bg[] = {
+        rgba(bg_r[0], bg_g[0], bg_b[0], (int)(bg_a[0] * alpha)),
+        rgba(bg_r[1], bg_g[1], bg_b[1], (int)(bg_a[1] * alpha))
+      };
+
+      int block_size = MID(4, thumb_size.w/8, 16);
+      for (int dst_y = 0; dst_y < thumb_size.h; dst_y++) {
+        for (int dst_x = 0; dst_x < thumb_size.w; dst_x++) {
+          thumb_img->putPixel(dst_x, dst_y,
+            bg[
+              ((dst_x / block_size) % 2) ^
+              ((dst_y / block_size) % 2)
+            ]
+          );
+        }
+      }
 
       base::UniquePtr<doc::Image> scale_img;
       const doc::Image* source = image;
diff --git a/src/app/ui/configure_timeline_popup.cpp b/src/app/ui/configure_timeline_popup.cpp
index f4f0d56ee..7e65d6175 100644
--- a/src/app/ui/configure_timeline_popup.cpp
+++ b/src/app/ui/configure_timeline_popup.cpp
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ ConfigureTimelinePopup::ConfigureTimelinePopup()
   m_box->infront()->Click.connect(base::Bind<void>(&ConfigureTimelinePopup::onPositionChange, this));
 
   m_box->thumbOpacity()->Change.connect(base::Bind<void>(&ConfigureTimelinePopup::onThumbOpacityChange, this));
-  m_box->thumbBackground()->Change.connect(&ConfigureTimelinePopup::onThumbBackgroundChange, this);
   m_box->thumbEnabled()->Click.connect(base::Bind<void>(&ConfigureTimelinePopup::onThumbEnabledChange, this));
   m_box->thumbOverlayEnabled()->Click.connect(base::Bind<void>(&ConfigureTimelinePopup::onThumbOverlayEnabledChange, this));
   m_box->thumbOverlaySize()->Change.connect(base::Bind<void>(&ConfigureTimelinePopup::onThumbOverlaySizeChange, this));
@@ -116,7 +115,6 @@ void ConfigureTimelinePopup::updateWidgetsFromCurrentSettings()
   }
 
   m_box->thumbOpacity()->setValue(docPref.thumbnails.opacity());
-  m_box->thumbBackground()->setColor(docPref.thumbnails.background());
   m_box->thumbEnabled()->setSelected(docPref.thumbnails.enabled());
   m_box->thumbOverlayEnabled()->setSelected(docPref.thumbnails.overlayEnabled());
   m_box->thumbOverlaySize()->setValue(docPref.thumbnails.overlaySize());
@@ -196,11 +194,6 @@ void ConfigureTimelinePopup::onThumbOpacityChange()
   docPref().thumbnails.opacity(m_box->thumbOpacity()->getValue());
 }
 
-void ConfigureTimelinePopup::onThumbBackgroundChange(const app::Color& color)
-{
-  docPref().thumbnails.background(color);
-}
-
 void ConfigureTimelinePopup::onThumbEnabledChange()
 {
   docPref().thumbnails.enabled(m_box->thumbEnabled()->isSelected());
diff --git a/src/app/ui/configure_timeline_popup.h b/src/app/ui/configure_timeline_popup.h
index acd75f495..74789213d 100644
--- a/src/app/ui/configure_timeline_popup.h
+++ b/src/app/ui/configure_timeline_popup.h
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ namespace app {
     void onPositionChange();
 
     void onThumbOpacityChange();
-    void onThumbBackgroundChange(const app::Color& color);
     void onThumbEnabledChange();
     void onThumbOverlayEnabledChange();
     void onThumbOverlaySizeChange();
diff --git a/src/app/ui/timeline.cpp b/src/app/ui/timeline.cpp
index c201aa6c4..6c38d754e 100644
--- a/src/app/ui/timeline.cpp
+++ b/src/app/ui/timeline.cpp
@@ -1638,11 +1638,9 @@ void Timeline::drawCelOverlay(ui::Graphics* g)
 
   she::Surface* overlay_surf = thumb::get_cel_thumbnail(cel, overlay_size, cel_image_on_overlay);
 
-  gfx::Color background = color_utils::color_for_ui(docPref().thumbnails.background());
-  gfx::Color border = color_utils::blackandwhite_neg(background);
   g->drawRgbaSurface(overlay_surf,
     m_thumbnailsOverlayInner.x, m_thumbnailsOverlayInner.y);
-  g->drawRect(border, m_thumbnailsOverlayOuter);
+  g->drawRect(gfx::rgba(0,0,0,255), m_thumbnailsOverlayOuter);
 
   overlay_surf->dispose();
 }