Quote (Version03 @ Jul 14 2010 09:34am)
The reason your character "covers everything up" is because Photoshop uses a layer based system.
Your character is one the uppermost layer and so it is effectively "in front" of everything else.
To "blend" your character with the background you should work on integrating the character into the signature with both foreground and background effects.
Shadows and highlights will also make your character seem more native to the surrounding background, as will utilizing colors properly.
If you want to learn more I suggest reading some beginner tutorials and going from there.
Do you think you can link me one from the sticky? Every tutorial I've seen doesn't tell me exactly how to integrate the char into the bg >.<