Backgrounds... backgrounds... lots of random background I've done recently.

I didn't think I needed to say this but I will anyway: DON'T USE THESE. They aren't free to use.

They were done for a friend as a concept art, if you look closely enough you can actually see characters in two of them. It's alien planets, so I just do colorful skies, stars, colorful rocky earth... that thing. Also lots of rings. It's just what I think looks pretty.
I've been replaying the game 'Spore' lately and that game always stuck out to me for it's cool looking planets- also the show Wander Over Yonder. I like things that are colorful and not on Earth (or are stylized to a point where it doesn't look like Earth). You might notice the pink sky one a lot, I'm biased to it (it's just my favorite, the earth is made of crystal).

As for the process, well. I used to struggle with backgrounds. Lately what I've been doing is just try some colors for a sky, make a gradient, and paint in shapes from there. It was beyond my comfort zone but this is something a bit therapuetic, it's really simple, and I can make them quickly since they're simple. I think if you combined the time it took me to make all these it really only would be an hour or so.