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You might enjoy "backgrounds" more if you don't think of them as backgrounds, but instead as environments - "big characters" with which your main characters interact. Try to think about the backgrounds from the very beginning, rather than trying to add them after everything else is done.
Thanks gennoveus, that was exactly what I was going for! I don't find drawing backgrounds to be very fun but I guess I can give it another shot. Showing the depth of the water with colors is what I had in mind but I couldn't pull it off, and I didn't want to go with a meaninglessly patterned background like I did with Toulouse.
Thank you for the tips eishiya, you always seem to provide great feedback. I was really struggling with how to AA the long segments on her legs, but maybe I'll be able to fix it with that technique you mentioned.
I think adding another colour so that you can AA between the dark grey and the dark blue would really help. It looks very strange that everything but that is AAed, and makes the jaggies stand out.
When you AA gentle slopes/curves (i.e. ones made out of long segments), don't be afraid to have more than one pixel of AA. Sometimes you need a very large chunk of AA to make something look smooth; single pixels of AA aren't always enough. Here's an image from the PJ pixel art tutorial to illustrate what I mean.
Very well done! Sexy, disgusting, and terrifying at the same time. Very surreal.
I feel like a simple background would improve it even more, even if it's just bubbles. Just enough to suggest that the whole scene is underwater.
@eishiya This has to be the best explanation of how to do backgrounds I've heard. Thanks, eishiya!
@GUNINANRUNIN You probably already do this, but I find the best way to deal with things I'm struggling with is just to look up a photo reference I like and "steal" from it. Water environments are difficult because of how much is affected by what colors you decide to settle on with your palette. I think that material study is so difficult, but probably, aside from anatomy study, is the most rewarding aspect of art. Great job! There's always room to improve, but it looks great as is.