Hello! I have a few tips/solutions that could help!
Glow Effect
A method I use to make a good glow effect (though it might seem tedious) is to paint on highlights/glows in photoshop with a soft brush (0% hardness, around 10%-30% flow). It’s time-consuming, but it’s worth it.
To do so effectively, find the light source(s) of your background and try your best to match the color of the lighting. Use a clipping mask to draw highlights onto the character, and create a separate layer under the character to draw a faint glow.
These are some results that I have gotten painting my highlights:
Finding a Good Background
I typically get all of my backgrounds from Unsplash or Google. Another good place to get backgrounds from (although they have subscriptions that cost money) is Envato Elements.
Blending the Background & Character
I don’t use Blender, and I have no idea how to use it (I use Cinema 4D instead), but I do know how to take a background image and blend in a character to make it look as if it was rendered.
As I mentioned above, I paint on my highlights; but I also paint on shadows. I draw shadows underneath the character and other places where I think shadows should be cast. I use an oval-shaped brush with 0% hardness and around 10%-30% flow for shadows beneath a character.
To match the character to the background, I try to look at the general lighting/color of the image. I take a similar color and use a hue/saturation layer and clip it over the character and turn the transparency down until it matches. It takes a lot of time, but it’s worth it, and you will eventually get a good product in the end.
And finally,
GFX Ideas
When I make a GFX, I like to think of popular movies and try to recreate them as art in Roblox, or I think of movies I like and recreate scenes from them. Another way to gain ideas is to gain inspiration from other artists. (Although, you should never directly copy another one’s work.) You could also start commissions, which will give you something new and something fun to try.
Hope this helped! 