for the background was maybe thinking something like the illustration style of Paddington bear.
Simple, yet still interesting and lovely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YClpjqFEIdM&feature=related
or even an more illustrative background, like Lucinda Rogers
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://illustrationnwsad.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/index_r1_c1.gif&imgrefurl=http://illustrationnwsad.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/lucinda-rogers/&usg=__UNlqssq9MP_lHSyoU_2G6T5_Htk=&h=544&w=717&sz=80&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=s55CE_xafoxyWM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=179&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLucinda%2Brogers%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1243%26bih%3D726%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=836&vpy=80&dur=459&hovh=195&hovw=258&tx=106&ty=108&ei=oYbOTML7CJGVOrn9tJUB&oei=oYbOTML7CJGVOrn9tJUB&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0
paddington bear, stop motion character with illustrated background.
desert, ideas for desert scene
need an object maybe in the desert? this weeping tree?
this is only to show what i mean by layering the set!...NOT the colours, or the cartoon affect.
a more complex set with card, i think this will look good with the desert set.
