@Puppet - Thanks again, bromey. Things like fine-tuned make-up will come last. I'll treat make-up like a retoucher does when editing model photos. Does the updated face do better for you? And the hair, oy, the hair I expect to be a challenge. One curl test-shaded next to her hair. She has raven black hair so giving it some definitive shading to avoid it all looking like a lumpy ball of blackness hugging her skull will be the priority.

@ blumunkee - All excellent points, man!
The one about not doing paint-over lines in black really makes sense. I'm always fighting against my black and white sketch layer when starting to paint because those high-contrast colorless lines gotta be covered up if you're not doing an "outlined" style. From now what I'll do is probably still draw in B&W but then prep the sketch layer by lowering contrast and colorizing it according to the main color clusters/areas so I get a huge jump on blending everything together. Can't wait to try it. (I don't like painting under the sketch layer on a new layer because when you hide it you get unexpected results, better to paint right on top of a copy of it . . . I think)
Oh yes I've see those threads, better re-read them, though. Thanks.
Yes, set the bg luminosity/general mood early, that's a good one. So, I did.
By far, the most problematic issue you touched on, for me, is the style balancing one - trying to go painterly but ending up all airbrushy. I have a compulsive gradient smoothing problem. My strokes are very unconfident, I tend to light stroke a million times in the same spot until any painterly quality is converted to trashy airburshiness. This I expect toi rectify itself with both gradual painting maturity and attention to the issue as I work.
I'm trying to keep this project 2 main layers, bg and fg, and not use too many PS cheats, but in the name of speed I'm giving in here and there.
scaled 30%
