Portrait - Step by Step to Digital Portraits

Here's a condensed step by step view of the process I used to create the Jazmine and Jonecia portraits. I'm using the Jonecia portrait as an example.

1. Outline is the most important stage. Either free hand or traced, doesn't matter. Make sure everything is placed properly before proceeding.
2. Add flat colors to the appropriate sections.
3. Add in the shadows to the skin first to get rid of the outline overlay. Then paint the skin tones.
4. Add in the details to the mouth, eyes, and brows.
5. Add in the details to the hair, clothing, and jewelry. Clothing was the easiest for me and the most fun. it involved simply adding in shadows in a single color (varying pressure for opacity) and editing wrinkled areas of the stripes.
6. Create a background and add the signature. Done!