This is pretty good, interesting to see pure bit-art for a change.

Well, for a background, you'll want a color from a very different range. Much like the deep red of your avatar, it has to be something that 'fades' compared to the subject. Dark tones are ideal: the background should always be darker or drabber than the subject (unless you're going for high realism) so that the character sticks out. I would go with something like a dark red, maroon or burgundy color, or if you wanted a bluer tone (and, hence, a more soothing one), a dark teal would work well, in my opinion.

But, yes, in a work this scale, having a detailed background can mean the character becomes lost in it, which is almost always something you don't want. Simple patterns and shapes work best. Something like a basic gradient (dark-darker, not dark-light) or a simple field of dark color would work well, in my opinion.

Regardless, cool, interesting work. I really like the horns and tendril things. And your avatar reminds me of SHODAN. But, again, nice work.

Thank you, it's not actually always that color, the picture I took that from is changeable in the "game" it's for, so the background would have to be different enough that she could be seen with most colors I could choose... and I only have a set amount of colors to choose from for any part (at the moment).

I'm not sure what tendrils you are talking about, she has tattoos covering her entire body if that's what you are referring to. I don't think I've heard of SHODAN, my avatar is another character I have but don't use much any more.

SHODAN was an evil, female AI from a very very old computer game. C.f. ref.: http://shodanstares.ytmnd.com/

Oh, when I said tendrils, I was referring to the curved, violet thing near her face, on the left. It goes near her face and extends all the way to the top of the picture. It looked like a tendril to me. But I look at a lot of art that conditions me to think like that, so there ya go (Horrors from Warhammer 40,000, primarily).

Hah, no that's not a tendril, it's a "rearview" shot of her tail, legs and part of her robe.

I think I have seen images of SHODAN before, but I don't think I played the game.

Ohhh... now I get it. Huh. Some things I overthink, some things just fly right over my head.

Yeah, she was in System Shock (1&2, if I'm correct). I never played either of them, and XP isn't exactly forgiving to old Windows 95 games...

But, thanks for clearing that up. And, again, nice work. I love the muted violet, it's quite pretty.

*forgot to hit the reply* My comment is below this...

Thank you again ^_^. She is supposed to be darker blue, but the color combination to her purple tattoos didn't show very well in the game's colors. She does look good with these shades though, but I'm not about to change her full body picture that I've been working on for over a year to match it... so she can be two colors.

Hmm, yes, I can understand why. My sympathies. I'm quite familiar with how frustrating it can be to have one's vision limited by the tools and materials available.

Anyway, best of luck. So far, this is quite cool.