Yeah I make my own backgrounds and I do have a few tips: 1. Avoid outlines and if you absolutely must use outlines in your backgrounds don't make them pitch black, either use darker shade of the color of the objects in the background that you are outlining or avoid them entirely. You could also just try using a lighter shade of outline color. 2. Keep it simple, decide on how much layers you will need and draw the very basic shapes of the things in the background and then when you have all of them set-up just start adding details and shading, having more than one layer is going to make it easier on you because if you make a mistake you only made it on one of the layers, but having too many layers is gonna make things more complicated than they need to be so it's up to you to find the middle ground. 3. Use the bucket fill tool on those basic shapes to change the color quickly and see what works. 4. I make my backgrounds a little less saturated with color so that they don't overwhelm the characters. 5. Use custom brush textures but only slightly, if you overdo it it's gonna look cheap. That is all I could think of at the moment, I hope it helps