In mostly chronological order...
This is where I started
I heard it was best to start with traditional, so I spent the first 2 months doing charcoal drawings
He looks nothing like the reference, but since no one knows him you can't tell.
same here :P
Pro tip: If you need create a likeness, choose a character with lots of scarring and unique facepaint to hide your flaws :P
..or pick someone wearing a muzzle :P
Now back to digital!
Learning charcoal first helps heaps! Shading is no longer a mystery.
Now for some color!
This took waaaaaaay too long. Like 30 hours.
I also did some sketches for practice
Pretty bad
Eventually tried a "cartoonish" style
Added unique facial expressions
Sometimes I'd completely fail
or just lose interest and never finish it.
Sometimes they finished, but I wasn't quite happy with it
This one in particular was trying to be cartoonish, but it ended up just looking weird.
December arrived, and I was hit with the Star Wars fever :)
Note: for some pieces like this, I drew from hand first, then overlaid the reference photo to double check measurements. It's a recommended step for beginners to learn their mistakes :)
Another attempt at a cartoonish style
Thanks for looking!, will post more later!