Critical Role has doomed elf bois, too... and a coloured pencil tutorial

It was time for a portrait of Vax I was actually happy with! I immediately went to the "doomed elf boi" look I seem to use for Finrod a lot. It suits him, particularly in later episodes. And well, I know he's a half-elf, but D&D half-elves seem to have even larger and more pointy ears than any Tolkien elf ever would, so there. ;) 

I'm taking a lot of in-progress pictures, so if you're interested in the coloured pencil process, here I talk a bit more about it! <3 

General things: I'm working with wax-based coloured pencils. In contrast to oil-based, they're softer and brighter. The brand I use is Castle Arts, which offer slightly more budget-friendly options than the usual suspects, Prismacolor (wax-based) and Polychromos (oil-based).  They're still really good - they don't break easily, which is an important concern with wax-based coloured pencils. The paper I'm using here (for the first time) is from Strathmore and is specifically for coloured pencil. It's an absolute dream to work with. It's got enough tooth to show off some texture, but allows smoooooooooth blending. 

 Top left: I lay down a pale, very even layer of a yellowish olive colour as a base. The trick in getting smooth areas of colour is swirly movements, even pressure, and being careful with sudden darker strokes. You can erase them with a rather rough eraser. The smooth ones I usually use just smear the colour, but with the right grainy eraser, you can take an amazing lot of colour off. 

Top right: Trying around with different colours for the skin tone I'm going for. I blended the smooth patch there with white instead of the blender, which results in a pastelly, very smooth look. 

Bottom left: After the bottom yellowish later, I add reds (with a burned-Sienna-like colour) to the skin areas with the most blood circulation (around the eyes, node, lips, and ears). 

Bottom right: More skin detailing. Going with the yellow forehead/reddish nose and cheeks/bluish chin scheme, which is SO MUCH EASIER to do subtly in coloured pencil than it is in watercolour. The bluish bits on his chin will almost vanish in comparison once the dark hair is in place, so I already have it on my mental list to darken it later. 

Top left: Blending! I blend the portions near the nose, lips and chin that also have some white parts with a white coloured pencil rather than the blender, as it remains lighter and more pastelly. The parts near the ear and under the eyebrows are blended with a Derwent burnisher pencil, which again makes for very smooth gradients and colour flats. 

Top right: Adding another layer of colour over the blended base layer until I'm happy with the texture and the light/dark look. The portion near the cheek/ear is okay looking slightly fuzzier and less smooth, so I don't blend it. 

Bottom left: More darker, desaturated browns in shadowy areas. 

Bottom right: I call the skin done for now (I can always go back to it later when the hair and feathers are done if it looks too light in comparison), and lay down the first layer for his hair and colour his eyes. Fun fact: Thirty years of drawing and painting elves, and doing my first one that has brown eyes. Which is a total shame, by the way, as I always fall for them! =D 

This is as far as I've come, I'll be back with more when I've continued!