This is the version of the character completely drawn and colored. She is basically finished. Notice that I have basically selected a light source (upper right) and colored and shaded appropriately. So now that we have this awesome character, I must admit, she looks a bit lonely on a big white background. We can remedy that! What sort of background would look good behind her? I chose a forest for two reasons. One, it would be a nice compliment to the reds and neutral grays in the coloring. Also, it would be nice to have trees behind her AND trees in front of her to give her the illusion of being somewhere.

So let’s get started!

1. I found a nice forest background from the Stock Exchange. Copy a picture and paste it on a layer below the character.
2. Now, the portion of the image around the feet of the character aren’t going to look very realistic just sitting on top of the stock image. To get around that, create a background layer that is filled with the color green. Choose a green that matches your picture.
3. Put this background fill layer below ALL the other layers. You should now have 3 layers the character on top, under that the stock image, and under that the green fill layer.
4. Now, add a quick mask to the stock image. Use a gradient to fade-out the portion near the character’s feet. So instead of the stock image, it will be showing the green underneath.
5. Pay attention to this trick! In order to make it seem like we’re focusing on the character, we’re going to blur the background. The trick is to blur it enough to make it seem distant, but not too much so that you don’t know what it is. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur and choose a setting that looks right for you.
   
   Here’s what it should look like:
   
   
   
   Good work! Are we done? I don’t think so.
6. Since the character has a light source, that should be evident in the background as well. Ours is coming from the top right. In order to simulate that, choose the gradient tool and choose the colors black and white. At the top of the screen you should notice a drop down menu specifying what sort of gradients you can choose from. Choose the gradient type that is only white, like this:
   
   
7. Create the gradient going from the top right down to the bottom left. Only drag it a little ways but adjust it to your liking. Too much and you’ll drown out your character. Not enough and it won’t be dramatic enough. You can create this gradient on the stock image layer, or you can create another layer either will work. Your character should now look like this: