Self Potrait with M16a4

My recent illustration for Gila-Gila 802nd issue is my kind of favourite workflow by combining digital sketching and manual coloring. I have always hoping to maximise my usage of digital artworks, but the yearn for striving something in traditional medium makes me always looking for a way to things manually, in the medium that I love- watercolor.
The cover was sketched in Procreate and traced on to 150gsm drawing paper. Unfortunately I have the certain habit of recording the first sketch and only I realised that I had missed the step by step by step when the drawing is already finished.
And why not do a new one?

And who else would be featured as a subject- a self portrait should be great lol
So the initial sketch was done digitally to give the freedom of space and redos.

Tracing in progress. The only concern in this step is that the screen can slip or rescaled due to unintentional touch. Just avoid unnecassary contact to the tracing paper.

So this is where the fun begins. I filled up the background with washes using ultramarine, burnt sienna and burnt umber. Its easier to give a balanced tone since the colors will also represent the skin tone.

In this drawing I have decided to use at least two seperate ghost layers, the background and the AR. To my understanding, ghost layers are the hues that will hauntingly or subtly give an overall mood of the picture later in the finalised piece.

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So these are the tools instrumental to this piece.
Jackson’s sky-wash xl for the first wash
Escoda Perla 8 for initial details
Davinci petit gris pur 2 for finalising
WN one stroke for finalising tne final

Abey Zoul’s Watercolor Techniques for (the ever needed) reference and guides
Daler Rowney Aquafine Travel Set.

Digital sketching really improves the hours of doodling. I havent try this method en plein air, but I had already felt that it will be really helpful in compositing subject. By adding up a manual drawings, you have a hard copy of your work and oh my it is really fun to do.

Tembakau