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.