Work flow and Media

I do not have any art training. Just go through lots of podcasts, video tutorials, drawing books and lots of practice. I feel I’m improving however I need to get grounded on my work flow and media.

I know the style I like, and feel I am best at; I call it a gritty comic look. example: www.darkhorse.com/Features/Desktops/387/Conan

My workflow is:
- Sketch
- Scan
- Re-ink
- Render and color

I like the process however struggling with how much sketch detail to do, how much re-inking and what is the best media to use.

I purchased ArtRage for a few reasons; one is the smaller set of tools. Here is what I will try to move toward:

- Sketch (detail, and use art pens to line)
- Scan
- New ArtRage paining (standard paper, 1024 x768 100dpi)
- Open scanned sketch as tracing image
- Use the “Paint tracing image to current layer”
- Remove tracing image
- Add new layer (transparent and top of original drawing)
- Use oil-paint tool (50 % pressure, no thinners, 17 % loading)
- dab around in strategic places, just to get the overall color scheme right
- Use Pallet knife (30% pressure) to blend
- Use a non loaded brush with some thinner for additional work (like shine effects)

I’ll try this process on this sketch I did call "Trouble Arising":