experimenting with photoshop to add background detail.

as 3 of my illustrations relied on background information for the concept to work (e.g. the pigeons i needed to show were sat on a pigeon hut in the background) i needed to think of ways i could produce these backgrounds.

matt suggested photoshop would be a good way to do this as it will be quicker then drawing by hand and will also give me a progression clean finish. i liked this idea, i also thought this would be idea to differentiate between the figure and the background as i wanted the figure to be the focal point, therefore making the background less detailed will focus attention on the figure.  however i'am not 100% confident on photoshop and am unsure how to make a realistic looking background.

my attempts: 

i tried to go for a faded look to this idea so it would focus attention on the figure, however i think the quality of my photoshop drawing is weak and does not resemble as hut as well as i would have wanted. 

i like the simples of this background, however you cannot tell its meant to be a hut and it also takes attention away from the silhouette pigeon as they are both block colours. 

this is my favourite out of the experiments and it is simple, yet you can tell that it is a wall. however i still feel like i need to improve on photoshop to make it look more realistic, instead of just blocks of colour.