May I ask about your layering?
What kind of layer blending mode do you use to combine the shadows and highlights with the colored layer? How do you pick your color values for shadows and highlights?
I like how you have got a yellowish light effect, and the shadow became purplish, which makes things look a bit more cartoon realistic. Great work!
Thank you! That is a great question. I generally use 3 colors for the shadows (one purplish on Hard Light and two cold blueish-greens on Multiply). But for this character portrait, I added a third overlay shadow with a purple tint. For the highlights, I wanted a golden sunlight glow. I used both "add" and "overlay" with the same golden yellow. I like to push the cold/warm contrast. This makes me want to include a screenshot of my Highlight/Shadow layers and their blending properties on my next post :]
That would be great.
From this post I thought you drew all the highlights and shadows in one layer, and presto! Now I know it is a lot more processes and experienced decisions going into the technique.
Most casual readers probably like the shortest demonstration possible. I enjoy seeing an overview of everything.