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Description
The reference is the dark elf, Pirotess from 'Record of Lodoss War'.

Iiii have no idea how long this took (probably four hours, not including the lineart, which likely needed two, at most).

Some Notes:
I started with the initial color palette, but, on a soft light layer, I added more red (especially to the lips!) to make the skin more vibrant; then I toggled the color balance, hue/sat, and curves for every layer until everything popped. For the highlights I used two layers, a soft light and a color dodge, using the same color for the soft light and highlights. "Beads and wands" are my preferred method for highlights; every "wand" is formed by or adjacent to a bead, it just gives everything a consistent aesthetic.

For her head band, I tried to make the gold a lustrous yellow, tinging it green for an aged feel.

(Oh, there was a, uh, mistake in the original cell; her right eye's height was smaller than her left's. A fact I did not recognize until I was about three-fourths done painting. Liquify, thankfully, is a generous instrument.)

I wanted to paint some subsurface scattering on her ears, buuuut the prospect of juggling multiple tabs-- when my laptop was taxed enough just buffering smoothly--turned me off. (Something for next time!)

All in all, this was a massive step for me--- and it looks GORGEOUS! And I only used (basically) a three and a half color palette for the shades and highlights. I'm finding, more and more, that color in cells helps to demystify digital painting as a process. It's surprisingly straight forward; you color in the lines, and you stay in your comfort zone. You push a little here and there, and let a million little decisions compound into something greater than what you did the last time you sat down to draw.

Description
The reference is the dark elf, Pirotess from 'Record of Lodoss War'.

Iiii have no idea how long this took (probably four hours, not including the lineart, which likely needed two, at most).

Some Notes:
I started with the initial color palette, but, on a soft light layer, I added more red (especially to the lips!) to make the skin more vibrant; then I toggled the color balance, hue/sat, and curves for every layer until everything popped. For the highlights I used two layers, a soft light and a color dodge, using the same color for the soft light and highlights. "Beads and wands" are my preferred method for highlights; every "wand" is formed by or adjacent to a bead, it just gives everything a consistent aesthetic.

For her head band, I tried to make the gold a lustrous yellow, tinging it green for an aged feel.

(Oh, there was a, uh, mistake in the original cell; her right eye's height was smaller than her left's. A fact I did not recognize until I was about three-fourths done painting. Liquify, thankfully, is a generous instrument.)

I wanted to paint some subsurface scattering on her ears, buuuut the prospect of juggling multiple tabs-- when my laptop was taxed enough just buffering smoothly--turned me off. (Something for next time!)

All in all, this was a massive step for me--- and it looks GORGEOUS! And I only used (basically) a three and a half color palette for the shades and highlights. I'm finding, more and more, that color in cells helps to demystify digital painting as a process. It's surprisingly straight forward; you color in the lines, and you stay in your comfort zone. You push a little here and there, and let a million little decisions compound into something greater than what you did the last time you sat down to draw.