Monday- post- face again

Hey, wanted to post up an image I did yesterday. I created it in Sketchbook Pro 7, which has some cool features that I did not notice in Sketchbook pro 6 or 2011- the paint bucket tools and the clean path tools are not new but their ease of use is more apparent than before- so here is my process

1. using the standard pencil tool- I create a layout sketch in the bottom layer ( right above the BG layer which I am digging right now)
2. I lower the opacity of that layer and clean up in a layer above- still using the pencil tool.
3. Once I feel the draft is clean enough for my use, I lower the opacity of that new layer and turn off the original layer and start inking with a modified pencil brush - many of the standard pencils can be modifies using the brush tool sliders- the pencil tool I use now looks and feels like an ink brush- I use to use the felt pen modified- but I like to keep that rough  for sketching and this pencil for inking ( your preference really)
4. I found out when I ink a line, my hand moves best in one direction so I use the rotate canvas feature with my Wacom  Intuous 4 a lot. - Also the space bar on my Mac ( I love this feature on the fly- makes work more fluid) 
5. Okay- here is where I found out, that the steady stroke tool works wonders on long sweeping lines- it also is pressure sensitive for thick and thin line transition-otherwise I would be doing this by hand- time and lifesaver!
6. Now I have a clean line drawing- what about large black fill areas like under the chin and hair- this is where i found out the selection tool along with the paint bucket tool gives the better result.  Before I was trying to outline an area and fill inside that area- this always left a blank halo or if double clicked over saturated the fill- selection/ fill is a cleaner method... 

( note I will usually do all the above in green or blue color but then change the layer to black with the Hue/Saturation pick under the Image>Adjust tab.. ( again your preference)

Okay now to color once I have a clean line drawing( note using hard eraser is a good thing for outlines..

1.To make base colors I open a layer underneath the line drawing layer- and use the now tested selection/fill technique.   There may be some clean up or erasing needed so zooming in to areas is also a plus for a clean look

2 Now for highlights, I like  to place geometric fills on a layer between the line and above the base color...
3.Since I don’t want the highlights to be completely sharp and jagged; I use the soft eraser tool to give the highlights a more organic /geometric mix transition... and thats it...
4. Last but not least I choose a BG color that helps the image pop-