Wow that's really good!

Thanks! The background has me a little miffed, but it's the first time I've tried doing a full background like this.

dont worry to much, its a really beautiful drawing ^^

this looks so kick ass!!! thank you so much for doing this for me! <3

OH man, the texture of the ground and bushes is making me so happy ;-; this is gorgeous! And I love the different shading on each half of the character, the golden highlights add a lot!

Only suggestion I would make for doing a background in the future (...I'm one to talk, I never do them ;-;) would be to add a little variation in the sky, maybe, and maybe some more shadows on the ground. The sky especially feels the most flat, since everything else has at least hints of another tone or color.

Thank you! I really appreciate suggestions like this. Not too many people do them... it's always "OH it looks great, feed the artist with bs feel good comments" and it can make it really hard to grow as an artist.

I knew the picture looked flat... but I didn't know where or why. And by the time it was done I was too afraid to just add to everything because I already was soooo miffed with the ground that I finally said "EFF IT" and didn't want to touch it anymore in fear of making things worst. The other thing that I learned with this picture is that I NEED to use reference pictures for backgrounds right now. I just haven't done enough to be able to do them free hand yet.

I'm glad it helped! I really think it DOES look good except that extra depth more variation in the sky color could have given. It would be an easy fix, too. Otherwise yeah, I really think this turned out well. :)
I tend to follow the rule of color theory that you add a shadow of an opposite color (even just a little bit) which can help things look more smooth and natural as well. However, doing this with markers is tricky and you have to do a lot of tests for every combination to make sure it's going to be what you want, as with markers in general but ESPECIALLY with that kind of shading--you risk a lot if it looks too obvious/strong. I notice not a lot of people seem to do that for shading and it always surprises me. It may help you too in making your images less flat in terms of shading--sometimes the depth is there and the tone isn't.

guh, with all this knowledge I REALLY have no excuse to stay in the world of no backgrounds. XP someday. someday I'll draw a background with every piece....

Color theory... I want to take a class on it. I get the basic concept of it, but I definitely need to put it into practice more. I know I saw one artist on here who can make their markers look like a painted background. That's what I want to be able to do... and that's probably why I was disappointed was because I wanted my background to look that good. Completely unrealistic considering I have no practice doing backgrounds... but I am my worst critic and will cut myself down the minute something doesn't meet my expectations.

OH and I had actually tried putting some color in the sky... I had tried putting some green into it but I gave up to fast. I made a small practice window, didn't like the result and instead of trying harder and I just let it be because I for whatever reason just thought that it would just not look good. Ah irony.

And you should! You have such fantastic art. It's amazing how much a background can make a piece feel that much more complete. Although at the same time I love the way you piece your pictures together. Some of them almost look like scrap book pages which is awesome.

Actually I could send you a note about it. I learned quite a bit from a painting teacher in high school--he told a lot about it. You should definitely explore it more, but remember to let the media be itself. I sometimes get upset that my marker work isn't as smooth as some I've seen--people can make it look so smoothly shaded it's digital. I hope, though, that you can achieve what you want! Just play with shading and you'll get there. <3

A soft variation to red and then purple and then blue could have been appropriate (not all of that would have had to show necessarily--only one color could have been enough) and you could still definitely add this. <3
I REALLY think, once again, you did a great job. Don't get yourself down, this really is amazing <3

I need to practice that more, I guess. Backgrounds, I mean! I make myself add something more than I used to. I use a lot of scrapbook paper, and I do enjoy that and find it useful, but to not have to choose to add it would be fabulous.

I would love you to send me a note if it's not too much trouble! I love learning and will take any chance I get.

I'll have to try playing with the colors you mentioned, because I think that would look really nice. I know when I'm out and about now a days I'm always trying to see the different colors... especially in the clouds and at sunset.

Cool, I'll get on it! <3