On Photo Referencing

Stop copying photographs!
Seriously, I keep seeing this. Even in tutorials, I see image after image that is just reproducing a photo. The point of photo references is not to reproduce the photo, but to use it to help with an image. The key word there, is "help."
Think of it like writing a paper, for school. If you just copy the encyclopedia entry, you're cheating and you're not really learning much. The point is to use multiple sources and points of reference to create something your own, hopefully something new.
Copying a photograph or another painting or drawing can be a useful exercise. But that's all it should be: exercise.  If all you know how to do is copy photographs, what are you going to do when you don't have references? Anyone can copy, it takes an artist to create, from nothing.

Process Part Two

This time, I brought video. It took ages to upload, but here we go.

Process Part One

I feel like sharing my methodology. This might not be the best technique, but it's my technique. This is what has developed over time, through advice, tutorials, and trial and error. This is my process for digital coloring. Don't worry, there's pictures.

Female Faces

Ugh, every time I get used to something's layout, it gets changed. Google/Blogger has changed the layout, so now I'm probably going to screw up, on this post. Enough bitching, for now...

Most comic artists are men. Most men, kinda suck at drawing women. Obviously, I'm not the first to make this observation. One of the theories as to why, is men try to make their female figures too perfect. You'll see a wide variety in the male figures, generally. While there is a standard heroic male body type, these guys clutter their universe with women that all look like centerfolds. On the rare occasion that they are asked to specifically draw a woman who isn't of that body type, the guys typically screw up.
Learning the three basic human body types is a helpful tool. Look at real people and you'll see plenty of examples of the endomorph, some of the ectomorph, but rarely the mesomorph. If you're not familiar with those terms, just have a quick search, because right now, I want to focus on faces.

Too many artists just draw the same handful (if that) of faces with different hair and maybe some scars or something, over and over. This is particularly true of women's faces.
It takes practice to draw faces. It takes even more practice to draw faces that look different. And, it takes a lot more to draw faces that are attractive, yet still have unique features.
Scarlett has a pointy chin. Sofia has big eyebrows. Laverne has a bulbous nose. Lindsay has a cleft chin. Lucy has a tiny chin. Thora has deep set eyes.
These features jump out at you. None of them are "perfect", but does it make them any less attractive?

New Techniques

Trying to get a more traditionally painted look. I downloaded some neat sponge brushes and toyed and tweaked the setting. I did this a lot like I would watercolor, in the background - working in gray scale first, then adding color with an overlay layer. Not exactly the same, obviously, but there are similarities.