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Description
this is definitely NOT the best way to draw, and I don't recommend it for beginners (or anybody, really), but it's the habit that i've gotten into. my advice is to sketch thoroughly before you start the lineart, don't cut corners like i do, it's probably part of the reason i'm not as good as most other artists.
anyway...

pose - this is the step where I try to figure out what kind of figure I want to draw. it sometimes takes longer than any of the others because my brain is square, but sometimes it's the easiest.

sketch - this is where I really slack off. obviously I don't expect anyone to make five different sketch layers (that's a bit excessive) but the more detailed and precise the sketch is, the better the end result will be. I usually draw with the sketch layer at about 10% (I don't follow it too closely most of the time, and it just gets in the way if it's too dark), but here it's at a much higher opacity so it's not invisible lol.

lines - I usually combine this step with cleanup, erasing the stray lines as I go. here, though, I separated them to better show how I draw. command (or control) Z and the eraser tool are your best friends for this stage, just be careful not to develop too much muscle memory or you might end up command-Z-ing that one time you got it perfect (definitely not speaking from personal experience or anything.)

details and cleanup - this is a kind of second pass I do over the lineart to make sure I'm happy with it and to catch any errors I may have made. I also usually draw in the edges of the character's markings here, unless I decide that I want to paint them instead (which looks better but for some reason it's more difficult for me).

colors - I usually select the area outside the lines, clean up the selection a bit, invert it, and then paint bucket the entire area with the base color. I'll almost always put the other colors on a clipping layer above it unless the colors are very simple.

In general, I usually end up with four layers: sketch on the bottom, then base color, then colors, then lineart. if I do shading, I'll put that on a second clipping layer above color. this probably isn't a good idea, though, as multiple layers tend to be easier to edit than if everything is all together on one.

anyway, this isn't a tutorial at all, I just felt like posting something and I thought it would be fun to share the stoopid and inefficient way I have leaned to draw.

art (c) me
character owned by me
original character design by L0st-emotions (you can just shout at me if you don't want to be tagged every single time I draw him lol)
do not trace, copy, or use my art or characters without my permission

Description
this is definitely NOT the best way to draw, and I don't recommend it for beginners (or anybody, really), but it's the habit that i've gotten into. my advice is to sketch thoroughly before you start the lineart, don't cut corners like i do, it's probably part of the reason i'm not as good as most other artists.
anyway...

pose - this is the step where I try to figure out what kind of figure I want to draw. it sometimes takes longer than any of the others because my brain is square, but sometimes it's the easiest.

sketch - this is where I really slack off. obviously I don't expect anyone to make five different sketch layers (that's a bit excessive) but the more detailed and precise the sketch is, the better the end result will be. I usually draw with the sketch layer at about 10% (I don't follow it too closely most of the time, and it just gets in the way if it's too dark), but here it's at a much higher opacity so it's not invisible lol.

lines - I usually combine this step with cleanup, erasing the stray lines as I go. here, though, I separated them to better show how I draw. command (or control) Z and the eraser tool are your best friends for this stage, just be careful not to develop too much muscle memory or you might end up command-Z-ing that one time you got it perfect (definitely not speaking from personal experience or anything.)

details and cleanup - this is a kind of second pass I do over the lineart to make sure I'm happy with it and to catch any errors I may have made. I also usually draw in the edges of the character's markings here, unless I decide that I want to paint them instead (which looks better but for some reason it's more difficult for me).

colors - I usually select the area outside the lines, clean up the selection a bit, invert it, and then paint bucket the entire area with the base color. I'll almost always put the other colors on a clipping layer above it unless the colors are very simple.

In general, I usually end up with four layers: sketch on the bottom, then base color, then colors, then lineart. if I do shading, I'll put that on a second clipping layer above color. this probably isn't a good idea, though, as multiple layers tend to be easier to edit than if everything is all together on one.

anyway, this isn't a tutorial at all, I just felt like posting something and I thought it would be fun to share the stoopid and inefficient way I have leaned to draw.

art (c) me
character owned by me
original character design by L0st-emotions (you can just shout at me if you don't want to be tagged every single time I draw him lol)
do not trace, copy, or use my art or characters without my permission