Foregrounds or Backgrounds

In my AP 2D class, my teacher pointed out how i am good with foregrounds but bad with backgrounds in art. When looking around, i see a lot of artists, especially with semi-realistic anime artists, they tend to lack actual backgrounds or real information. And people who create backgrounds are not as appreciated unless its Fantasy or based off of a tv show or anime.. (and what I mean by background, I mean actual things and settings, rather than just a color pattern and aback shadow) A Background helps a drawing become engaging and a foreground gives a background purpose.. The thing I want to know if you (one who reads this) considers yourself a foreground or background artist? it is also possible to be both, however, it is a rarity now a days.

I think it depends on what you're trying to emphasize. If you have a subject, and they are in the foreground then you don't want it getting lost if the background is too complicated or eye catching. Especially if it's your subject you're trying to sell, or make people remember/become familiar with. You can use a background to draw emphasis to your subject but there's still a chance people might remember one over the other. I think it happened with this pic I did where I showed it to my cousin and he was like, "Wow, look at those clouds!" Which is what I was kinda aiming for but I didn't want the characters to get completely ignored. http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll287/21wq/halloween_sunset_b_zpsab892bd3.jpg

I think it's because backgrounds are SO boring to draw. For years my art has been getting better, but my backgrounds are still pretty crappy because I hate drawing them! I literally fell asleep trying to draw one before. Good background artists I can appreciate more than the average artist because they are few and far between.

mmm well honestly its good to be a well rounded artist back grounds can be as detailed or as simplistic as they need to be to emphasize the right things on the page the thing is depending on the camera angel and whats going on in the scene its completely possible for a foreground scene to be blured out completely and have hyper focus on ascpets of the back ground ex: hawk vision. think of it this way if you get good at back grounds even if you dont like them it will help in all other aspects of your drawings most times its not about puting more detail in it so much as taking it way to have the true focal point really shine. no part of the picture is any lesser than anouther even the main focus. they all work together to like a symphony every part is what makes the song truly beautiful.

I have the same issue, although I don't think my foreground figures are quite up to speed either. In my narrative work I try to show the background in at least one panel each page to establish where they are or to remind the reader where they are.