Can I ask how do you draw backgrounds?
Where are you taking inspo/reference from?
Perspective!....and patience. I know perspective is scary for ppl who not used to drawing background or landscape but once you grasped the basic and logic of it, you can pretty much draw or design enviroment you wanted! While drawing background can make your illustration look busier and "complete", its even better if your background able to assist your character to tell something to the audiences. EG: an ace detective with concerned expression, standing in a dark room. Imagine you are given a task which you need to design the scene, what would the room be? maybe you thought about a crime scene, a dead body on the ground, blood trails, piles of broken glass shards, displaced furnitures, light went out and maybe Mr detective uses a torchlight revealing the corpse of some very important person, hence you could bring out the dramatic lighting that evokes the emotion of tension.
As for patience, for me personally is about being attentive to the details, if I think I can apply more better stuff into it, then I shall happily proceed it. A lively street scene look plain? draw brick texture on building and the walkway! draw a cute cat getting petted on head by a pedestrian! draw a bicycle that leans on a wall beside a deli store! so much stuff you could consider, in order to make a convincing piece of work, and that requires endurance.
Picture below is my workflow for my studies in general ,as you can see I copied the reference to make it as my background for the two figures, and its also a great way to practice drawing in perspective by 1. analysing where the convergent lines connect, and locate the vanishing point(s) 2. trains your eye sight for estimating the scale and the distance between two objects
For the references I shamefully say Pinterest is my main source of references and inspo. Although you could occasionally check out #building, #interior, and perhaps #photography tags on Tumblr, some of the pictures are worth making it as your study reference. Moreover, your fav artist's works could be your source of inspo as well! Artists are meant to study from each other, so you can always save their works as references or doing imitation as self-improvement practices, study the way they draw, coloring techniques, the composition etc. (PS: Always practice good online etiquette by crediting the artist if you post it online, or write a small rationale). For me I would recommend checking out artworks made by Aliya Chen and Craig Mullins ( both on X and maybe Instagram?), two of my fav goated artists!!!!!!
References are vital in process of making art, its better if you have organised an inspiration board for your upcoming project. Images here are how I would start a illustration, at some point I designed a room for Scout and now I made a small compilation tribute to the concept, starting with a moodboard, collecting references and pictures of props from internet as if I'm shopping inside of an Infinite Ikea, later doing my sketches with my references opened as another window tab, placing beside the canvas.
