My problem now is this: how does one create backgrounds that look congruent with tooned foreground figures such as the one in the attached image?  I can only think ofthe following two methods: either

(1) Rendering the background poser building/room with all its textures removed, just coloured.  Or

(2) Postworking an ordinary background in Photoshop:  Use the "find edges" filter to obtain the background's edges, then manually colour it in.  This method can be time consuming, depending on complexity of the background image)

What do you think?

I think it looks great :)

Have you tried one of the Sketch Render styles and render the background separately and composite?

I have tried the sketch render option, but its results seem too "rough sketched" (i.e. the foreground figure's solid lines contrast too strongly with the "sketch rendered" background lines). 

One additional note:  the background in the image I posted was created using method (2): I got a background image, then applied the photoshop "find edges" filter on it.  That emphasized the background image's "line edges".

I then "desaturated" (i.e. removed all the colour from) the background image, leaving the background in the first post above.  The remaining process would be to paint it in colour.

Another option would be to duplicate the background image in Photoshop, use the "find edges" filter on the top copy and then play with the blending options of the two layers. You should be able to find a way to keep your colors from the original layer and still get the outline from the "find edges" layer.

By the way.... any chance of you divulging your toon settings for that Pic...

I've been trying to achieve that look for ages!

Looks great. The only things I don't really care for in the above image are the eyebrows. I notice there's a smudge on the eyelid above the lashes, too.

Other than that, very nice work.

your toon render of the skin and clothes has definite possibilities, but I reckon it's rather obvious why you omitted the hair and made sure the eyes and mouth were shut. p.s. forget about re-inventing the "find edges" technique. trekkie girl had a free photoshop action or technique on her site which works o.k.. send an IM to ernyoka for more info.

Quote - but I reckon it's rather obvious why you omitted the hair and made sure the eyes and mouth were shut

Really?

Her eyes and mouth are shut (and her nose is up in the air) because the emotion I'm trying to convey is sublime arrogance.  Her hair was omitted because the image above is still a work in progress and I hadn't yet added the hair in.

A more complete version of the image (with hair AND clothes) can be found at: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1210683

Quote - p.s. forget about re-inventing the "find edges" technique.

I don't understand what you mean by this.  Nobody on this thread (myself included) said anything about re-inventing the "find edges" technique.  Please explain.

P.S.  I will make the toon skin shader settings available via tutorial once I'm done tinkering with them - I'm still trying to get consistently good results.

Quote - P.S.  I will make the toon skin shader settings available via tutorial once I'm done tinkering with them - I'm still trying to get consistently good results.

Looking forward to seeing the final result!