Hahah yeah me too! Air brush is actually good when you know how to use/balance it. It’s really satisfying with the blending, but will just give you the blurry effect.
Usually I have around 15-20 layers but that’s for works with a lot of subjects. For this one I just have 3. For pure portraits (with no doodles etc) sometimes I just merge them all to one layer cos I’m still having a traditional feels when doing it 🤣
Trying to force myself to limit my layers not beyond 6 for potato laptop reasons and trying to bank on the traditional feels. It's amazing some people can work with multiple layers? I just need sketch, flats, shades, highlights, and finishing touches for a piece. But I can see the value of using multiple layers, you can make tons of possibilities in a single layer for the overall impact.
Do you watch some tutorials online for digital art or you go discover techniques on your own? I do both but more on the former side of things.