Doesn't feel much like shounen-ai though, but heck, what do I know? D:>
Har BG, are you using those silly computer effects?
Ok, it's not that bad I'm kidding, shoot me. =__=
Uh, anyhow, I think the smoke from the cig. is too much like that cloud BG,
I almost missed it. Xd;;
It looked fine in the lineart so I wonder why you redrew it here...shading would also be another way to make it not merge with the BG.

Was there something you were aiming for with this BG though?
I kinda see a scene here, floor, walls and an opening with clouds.
With Scene BGs, don't think of them as a 'BG' like, something seperate from the subject.
It's their enviroment/surroundings, in other words, the light source for the subjects sould be determined by the scene in most cases.

Simple BGs are the stuff like frames, color, pattern, generally things that are less complicated.

Uh, did you have a tablet or a mouse? D:
Either way, if you use a tablet then use lineweight, don't make everything the same thickness ((reffering to the clouds now)) because that gives things a flat look.
And with a mouse...just switch to an ereaser! Here's a tut on line weight ((I know it says inking, it shows lineweight very well)): [link]

Right, well hope that helps. :d

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((this might doublepost. My new college doesn't like DA))

"It's funny though, cause I have the background stories and complete bio made for both of the characters you see here, yet I don't have names for them. Hmm."
Ohmygosh, I do that alot too. Especially when working with a daydream character. Of course I also do the other way... create a character around a name. I think Hatsu is actually one of those.

I like how you sort of got the good-boy/bad-boy thing, but it's kinda hard to tell they're a couple... then again this looks like the kinda thing I might doodle of Seja and Loo (two characters of mine who have some funny kind of love between them but would never do anything more than hug). But they seem distant to one another... I think maybe if you could see both their faces... like if they were looking at eachother. Or maybe that's just me wanting to see the face of the mysterious smoking boy?

Oh nono, they aren't doing anything lover-ly in this picture, but in the story, they are a couple 8)

And I don't think I was really aiming for an scene background, just sort of an flat one that hopefully looked like something, but didn't distract the attention for the people in the picture. Guess I didn't do a good job x__x; GOTTA TRY HARDER ON THE BACKGROUNDS! *headdesk*

And yeeup, still using a mouse haha, I should really go and buy another tablet 8( I got kinda lazy on the clouds, I gotta stop ditching things halfway >__<;

Thank you for so much advicee!! Your critiques are likee, the best I've heard from anyone 8) THANK YOOUUU

Mustremindmyselftoworkharderonbackground s!!

Ah! I miss Hatsu! Why don't you draw him anymoree? 8(

And the reason why I had the guy smoking to facing the other way was because he's actually lost an eye, but this picture was to be set in the past sorta, so I didn't wanna show him with both eyes, haha.

And I guess they do have a sort of funny kinda relationship/love between them 8) Teehee.

why not just go with halftone bubbles then?
Tutorial((hope you don't mind downloading)): [link]
And here are some examples of it being used for BGs. ((same artist)):
[link] [link] [link] [link]

And of course, why not just go with the really simple stuff if you wish?
A plain color BG is good. For something that's in greyscale, just use some shade of grey! xD
If you want a little more then just grey, try putting a border around the characters: [link]

With these, even a few well-placed words ((with a good font))
will make the image look better for some reason. Like in the example,
notice the sig/copyright stuff at the bottom right. :d Nice and clean.
And another example ((one of my fav pictures btw)): [link]

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Siigh, most of all, I wish I had my tablet back
It's so difficult trying to colour and erase and colour and erase all the time >_<;;

And for some odd reason, whenever I do the font thing, it always always always turns out not a really complete background. Maybe it's the choice of font I use =/?

Oh yeah, a tablet would help big time. o.o
But, paicence! You don't have to finish eveything in a day.
Hum, by color and erease, well with coloring, you can try doing more colors on the same layer,
like all the skin for one character on one layer and ect.

Choice of font is very important and I guess that is where the problem lies. <:/
Need fonts? Here's the site I use: [link]

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Thank you for the site! 8)

No prob, :d

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