/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>6667387
It isn't that hard to understand, he's factoring the painting as a decision of what color goes in that lineart, if it's skin, it will be a hue that matches skin, but also playing along with the linework itself, meaning that it needs to be darker to outline the shape, which is what linework does mainly.
Inner lineart will remain softer/grayer because it blends better with the painted colors, with the exception of darker accents or where you want to depict the turning of the form.
Also, use your eyes, he's designing with the lines but also trying to make it play along with the painting, it's harder just because you have to keep tabs on those 2 elements at once in your process. Needless to say if your painting isnt working (which in reality is just your values not reading properly) your lines aren't gonna save it, they may even give away that you're fucking things up. You've got the option of practicing painting and lineart in isolated exercises and then testing both to measure your progress. Or do a study of these images, but in grayscale, focus on how the render works vs the lineart without the added noise of color yet as values are what really control this balance.
Also balance your line weight based on shadows/lights, typically you want them thinner at light, thicker in shadow, you can play with the values (within a same line or against other lines) for focusing contrast in some areas and reducing them where you don't want the eyes to look at, it also helps with the handmade feel.