BG needs C&C

[biothlebop]

Even if you are making a cartoony style, use perspective mathematics. It saves you time. I think that good cartoony style bends the shapes in a manner that they are still in balance, maintain symmetry, enchance flow (draw your eyes to certain points) and are aesthetic, although not in perspective. You can do it easiest by having a good, relatively realistic frame that you work from, and start distorting it.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/el_tonic/new/two%20houses.jpg
Too wide, fucks up the page)
These both were done by guessing, so don't paint over them. The first one has just had photoshop's warp transformations applied to it, which I painted over in the second image to see if I had guessed the transformations somewhat correctly (the surface textures can confuse the actual structure and make it look good).
If you are doing a cartoony style, I would not recommend using straight lines at least in the final image. The more you draw by hand, the better.

[Ace_Gamer]

i use straight lines coz:
a) its a unique style
B) [and mostly this reason] i can't draw free hand very well with my tablet. do u think i would be able to hand draw (and paint?) BG's and scan them onto my pc.? would that look good do you think

[biothlebop]

let's say, go ahead and use staight lines, but if all lines in the picture are straight, it will look stiff. Use curved/bezier's as well. Variable line thickness is also harder to accomplish with vectors.
Do them by hand if you like. Whatever looks better, unless it takes you double the time or you are prepared to spend more time by doing them by hand. Animated-hand-painted backgrounds will at least be a bitch.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/el_tonic/new/comoc%20house.jpg
I made you this to show one easy comic trick. The picture is based on the same frame as in the previous one, in a comic style, you can think of these things kind of like balloons. Some shapes have gotten extra air (coke machine) and some have had air sucked from them (house). By combining inward and outward curves, but starting from a solid foundation, you can establish a style and make objects draw attendion by using different shapes and outlines. When you rely on a realistic base, you'll get some freedom to do what you want with the shapes. As long as people understand it is a house it should look fine. I didn't think much of anything composition-wise when I made it so you should be able to make a more interesting picture by experimenting more with different lines and colors. As long as you have a realistic frame that uses perspecitve, and work from that, it will make enough sense for people to understand how it works depth-wise. It doesn't have to be exact, since it won't show in the final picture. Just more or less like the real thing.

[Ace_Gamer]

a quick drawing in the style you mentioned

[biothlebop]

Quite nice. I like the idea for the clouds, as well as the combination of the straight buildings in the horizon with the rest of the style. Comic style is really hard. It is much more difficult than drawing realistic stuff, where you only have to forget everything you know and draw what you see. In comic style, your handstyle does a lot. The faster you can draw lines and without shaking, the better it will generally look since when people see it they will see the flow of your hand across the picture. If it is interrupted or drawn slowly, it will  look more nervous (which can be used to good results as well). The basis of comic style is in understanding stuff in 3d and breaking everything down to primitives. Whatever you do artwise, will increase your skills, and even if you drew only realistic stuff, the next time you drew a picture like this it would look better. Comic style (like art) probably has a lot of mechanics and written rules that are taught in fancy art schools, and could help you (you might find some stuff on the internet).
About your picture:
I'd like the cola machine to relate differently to the house, not look like it's a part of it.
The general idea behind the clouds is nice, and they show that you have done the lines quite fast, flowing smoothly. The boxes in front have too erratic lines for a smooth surface like that (if you add holes and stuff later on, make them look broken it might work). The house seems a little out of perspective in the back (it's too wide) and the roof tiles shoud be redone with more flowing lines. The idea of a roof that is about to collapse like that looks good though. It looks partly bad because you used one line for the upper edge of the house and the shapes of the tiles are broken within the roof. Make the tiles follow more the inward bend. The window and the bottle-drop-down hole for the cola machine are too fat. When you add shapes on a distorted frame like either one, try to make them distorted in the same way as the surface where they touch (so it looks like they are a part of it). The outer part of the shapes (example: window) can be distorted in a way of it's own, just make the touching part follow the surface. I am not very fond of the bridge (although it adds to the composition).

Here is a edit regarding some of the mentioned things:

http://koti.mbnet.fi/el_tonic/new/comichouse2.jpg

Comic style is difficult. You have to know how much is too much, be able do do strange perspective and vision things in 3d in your mind. Graffiti and charicatures might be of help to you too.

[Ace_Gamer]

i apreciate the feedback BUT....i did this in 5 mins (if that), i just wanted to know if i was going in the right direction with the non-straight lines. i'll take all your C&C into account when i make the final version in this style.

[biothlebop]

I didn't assume you worked long into the night with it, and I am doing this for myself as well. I believe I can learn from trying to paint it over and writing down my thoughts to clear them.
That said, I liked the more realistic style better, but you made more of an effort with it.

[Ace_Gamer]

i think the more realistic style is better too. i'll try to do a version without so many straight lines

[Ace_Gamer]

for those of you that haven't seen my new thread, here's the latest version:

[Loki]

I like it, the way it is! It's not really comic style, but it has some tricky equalities with it. I don't understand a lot, when it's about bg's and stuff, so it's easyier for me to see the artistic side of it.

greetz
loki