/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>4038542
I really like the lines you did, and so I thought it would be fun to colour her. On the left I went for a more neon-ish vibe, on the right I went for more tame colours,

I stuck with a light source from overhead (sun, or something), so it's important to cast the shadow of the tits far down. You did some pillow shading on the abdomen on yours, which shouldn't be there.

As for the brush, I don't really know what program you're using, so it's hard to give much advice, but generally you should be using a bigger brush with soft edges and then get smaller. It looks like whatever you're using has hard edges, which leaves those unsightly edges in shading like on the hips/boobs.

Layers are fine. you can experiment with adjusting colours easily to train your eyes, but it's good to be able to do it all on one layer.
Light to dark doesn't matter most of the time, and mostly depends on context. if I'm pulling from light into dark, I'll think about how the light sources is falling over the form, if it's from dark to light I'll be thinking about how the shadow is cast.
I don't even know what blending modes are.
Doing values and then colour is good if you really want to pay attention to the values of a piece. It's fine to do values > colour > merge layers and then flesh it out more.

When doing shading, my general work flow is to do a base flat colour. Then, with a big brush do all cast shadows about where they should be (so now it's 2 colours), then add darker shadows where light wont get (Ambient occlusion). blend the light areas and the shaded areas into each other. Do your best to not use parallel strokes to blend (eg on the boobs and hips) You should try to blend the colours into each other, rather than along each other. It's fine when getting the initial colours down but you will have more success blending them together.
Do the highlights last. They are the best part, but always save it until the very end.