Monday post slightly belated due to art block and sickness

Ugh, I have the cold from hell. My face hurts, and I kinda feel like I should just crawl in a hole and die.  It doesn't help that I have massive art block.  I have all these great ideas, but they just aren't turning out how I want them too.

First we have a doodle I did of Banjo Rat receiving the banjo from Papa Banjo rat.  I love the sketch, I love how scruffy Papa Banjo rat is.

When I scanned this image in to color it, I just had no idea what to do for a background.  Backgrounds are always the hardest part for me to finish, but very rewarding when they turn out nicely.  Still doesn't make me want to do them.

I just don't know of the background is overpowering the characters. I wanted to show where they live, in a neat little hollowed out log, but I thought if I cropped it then it wouldn't make sense.  But I don't like how small the characters are and I don't like the composition.  I don't know how to fix it either.  Ugh, I hate backgrounds. 

EDIT:

Finished this piece finally. I couldn't make a lot of the elements work, so I just decided to ax them.  I wanted to have all these cute homey things, like the rocking chair and a porch light, but I was so sick of this drawing I just wanted it to be done.  I'm still not super happy with how it turned out, but it's done and that's good enough for me at the moment.

I do like how the texture on the log came out though :) And I can't get over how excited Baby Banjo Rat is! Look at his big baby teeth! So cute :)