just starting to try my hand at sigs, comments suggestions appreciated

Well, I feel like with this one I've finally taken a strong step in understanding and working with my photoshop animator and making animated sigs. so, without further ado, here is the siggy I have made, after many grueling hours at the keyboard and mouse, for my beloved Berserker.



its a bit long of an animation but any faster and it felt too rushed.
and as always, feedback appreciated.

You are showing some good improvement here. I admire your work ethic as well, you are obviously working very hard.
As a sig maker myself, my advice echoes some of what was said before. I always use the main subject of an image for color inspiration. However, I don't always directly copy a color.
Sometimes it works out best to use the eyedropper tool (or whatever tool you have to pick up a color from your image) and then adjust the color to one that works better for a background (while using the color as a start point so it is still similar). The key is you want the viewer's eye to gravitate to the subject. The background is to compliment the figure/subject.
Sometimes it is tough to find the right shades to make this work. Especially with text. I find myself often spending a large amount of time trying to find just the right color to outline my text to make it pop without being too distracting.
Anyways, my biggest suggestion is to not stop making signatures. Every one you make you will learn something new. Even if you aren't 100% happy with it, it is still experience. Keep it up and I will keep an eye on your thread to see your progress.
Oh, and also you can find plenty of stock images that are free to use for backgrounds. I often do this. Try Deviantart, there is some good stuff if you don't mind spending some time looking. Just be sure that it is stock and not someone's personal art you use. Another good way to make backgrounds is to use screenshots of scenery from the game. You can use them as is, or add effects like changing the color hue, making it higher contrast (I often do that, as I am a big fan of vibrant colors as well). You can also use filters to make a regular screenshot look like a watercolor painting or such.