I have little strange situation here....

[Garis]

Some time ago i have won an art contest with one sleeve and hat teared from magazine... so I desided to move the idea to a comp... turn it to digital art... But just an idea... i make the wallpaper and i see that something are missing, but i want to save the sleeve with a hat(that figure) and idea.. so help me to save the figure and idea, but to creat good bg, becouse i hear that bg is bad.. so help please...
Thank you... Sorry for my mistakes, my english isn't very good...

Ok.. I have did some progress... but still need something... now i need more concrete.. not "something"..

V1 http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/6...lpaper2ek1.jpg
V2 http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/8...paper22bq9.jpg
V3 http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/9...paper23yv4.jpg
V4 http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/4...paper24dv9.jpg
V5 http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8...paper25zr6.jpg

So any tips? but be concreat... I need something to change the flower on the left side... and i like the that idea that i need something old... like old bike (versions) or maybe gondola, or street... i dunno but... maybe you can help me...

[cameron]

ha very imaginative and orginal

[Garis]

Maybe can answer that I asked?

[Kate]

Hehe, I love the design! Very cool.

I'm not too fond of the background. Try making it in the style of the arm guy more, instead of all monocromatic downloaded brushes. Hm... maybe it can be different colored neckties or something? That would be awesome.

[Garis]

yeah i understood and i like your idea... very good... thanks..., but you see i dont want to change the figure becouse i want to save the idea from the original one... i want to hear some tip to do add something more to bg or something like flower or something like that... but not changing the idea of sleeve guy... maybe colors only can be changed but not idea...

[Samuel]

She meant the red part...it's kinda ugly and doesn't match with the design.

A new background would be a lot better.

[Garis]

yeah I know.. I like the idea about necties, but i dont want to change anything in figure, like i said... so any tip how to change bg?

[Jeff]

don't be afraid to keep it simple if you need to. lots of negative space can be effective in the right situation. see how it looks if the bg's just a solid color or a subtle gradient. i think it'd at least be better than that grunge brush look anyway.

edit - i see that's pretty much what you did one the second one. i'd say lose the textures on the shirt and hat, and maybe the scanlines in the bg. that stuff on the left look pretty low quality, you should remake them with the pen tool.

[Shadow]

I like the idea, it's really cool. My suggestion for the background is, as jsoosiah said, keep it simple. Or you could paint a simple sky and grass and things. Like a cartoonish environment maybe?

[Garis]

Yeah.. I like your idea.. thanks... soon you will see my result