One thing I try to do with backgrounds is try to include at least one "lived in" thing per page. Granted I've...also sorta been slacking lately (and I've definitely been working on it in my pages that are in my buffer!), but I try to treat it like a quota. The page isn't complete until there's something unique in the background.
Try to think about how your world works. Sorry if I'm wrong, but after clicking through your pages, it looks like you've sort of got a steam-punk look going on. So what makes that run? What is making the buildings function in your world? Is it steam? Is it electricity? If it's steam, there's probably going to be a lot of pipes, if it's electricity, you might see a lot of wiring and generators.
My own comic's city has a lot of piping to pump water through walls to keep these gaseous monsters out of people's homes. So there are pipes everywhere:
But what comes with pipes? Well, in a more run down city like my comic's, a lot of leaks. Leaks make mold, so I make sure to add a lot of mildew dripping from the pipes. I'm no plumber, but I'm sure a lot of pressure goes through those pipes too, so I'm sure a good amount of steam also escapes those pipes.
And how would the world react to having all these pipes around? Well, people are always throwing shoes over telephone poles, why not throw some over some pipes too? And what what controls those pipes? Where do you shut them off? I'm sure there's gotta be some sort of control box right? Cool, that's another thing you can throw in to take up some space!
You've got some really cool environments and I really dig the world you do have going on! But as far as populating it goes, let's take this panel for example:
1. Once again, how does this world get it's power? Steam? Electricity? Magic? What is powering these buildings that we could put on the outside of them? Pipes? Wires?
2. What happens when it rains? Where does the rain go? It's not a little detail anyone will really ever notice you didn't put in, but adding some storm drains or drain pipes can be a great way to fill up space.
4. How do they communicate? These look like they're homes. Would these houses have mail boxes or mail slots? Are there phones? If there are, how do the phones work? Are they land lines that would require a lot of wires draping across the buildings or through telephone poles?
3. What are the people like here? Are there bands putting up posters for their upcoming concerts? Are there kids putting up posters for their lost dog? Are their thugs that would graffiti the place or maybe spray paint over some propaganda of at politician if it's a more militant world? And if it is a more militant, pristine world, then would there be maybe wanted posters for those who threaten to ruin it?
And let's take like this panel as another example:
Once again, it's a cool start and seeing the stuff lke the cracks gives me a better idea of the state of this environment, but what's this a door to? Im aware it's just a dead end they reached, but what is this door when it's not just a convenient dead end for these characters. Is it the back door to someone's apartment? Is it the back door to a restaurant? If it's a back door, I bet that's where the owners take their trash out and some trash cans or a dumpster would probably be handy. And you know what garbage attracts? Rats! It's not weird to see a rat poking it's head from behind a trash can.
I can go on for a while about this because I'm weirdly passionate about it, but next time you go out, just try to take some pictures! And pay attention to what is making the world work.
It's not photography, but I also find looking at the art of worlds with similar things helps a lot. For example, judge me all you want, but I have some DMMD images as my desktop background, and one day as I was working on one of my pages, I just actually stopped to look at one and it really helped a lot!
I'm no where near as detailed as that ^, but I try to at least take some elements of it each page, such as like the power box, the curved pipes, and now that I'm looking at it again, I should really look into adding some of those big downward pipes too...
And since I've already gone as far as to admit that I still have DMMD background images, let's go ahead and use that above image as a good example. Because shit on DMMD all you want, nobody can deny that it at LEAST had good environment art.
You can tell so much about that location from that one image. The area is rather run down, probably a middle to lower class district, but you can tell it's still relatively safe since the store has stuff outside. It's clearly still in business, but it looks like that store across the street isn't with it's worn out sign and even a spot on the wall where it looks like they tore down a sign, but at least that book store next door is at least still in business with its lights on! I wonder if that generator on the side of the out of business store is supplying power to the book store too? And in a little middle/lower class town like this, where do you think someone like a book shop owner would live? Most likely at their store, so it's a good thing there's apartments above it!
I could really go on and I'm super sorry if this turned into a jumbled ramble, but I REALLY LOVE THIS SORT OF STUFF and you've got some really cool environments started that I'd love to see the details of how they function and are lived in works.
I'm sorry I wasn't any help at all with your other subjects, BUT I HOPE THIS AT LEAST GAVE YOU SOME GOOD FOOD FOR THOUGHT!!
