I've wanted to do one of these for a while so I figured this was a good example to show the process I go through when I make a drawing. You can really see the difference in each step like me adding her mole later on.

1. The sketch. Done in Mechanical Pencil then scanned in at 300 dpi. I mess with the brightness and contrast as much as I can to make the lines stand out and make the other marks disappear.

2. Inking. My process recently changed to using the vector tools in Easy Paintool Sai. (I don't have a tablet) I go over the lines changing the weight (thickness) in certain ares to make the lines not too uniform. Still need work in this area. This is still waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than my original method for inking,

3. Flat Colors. Probably the easiest part of the process. I obviously use a cel-shaded style. Just filling the correct areas with the corresponding color. Some people use the bucket tool, some use the paint brush. For me it depends on my mood. I make sure to use separate layers in case I make a mistake. This slows my computer down a bit though so I flatten them out before going to the last step...

4. Shading and Highlights. This is what makes an image really pop. I still need a lot of practice in dealing with light and shadows but I'll get better eventually. I use an airbrush for both highlights and shadows (a black brush for shadows and a white for highlights) set to low opacity, like around 15%. The shade layer is set to multiply while the highlight layer is set to overlay.

So yeah, if there are and questions or if anyone has any tips feel free to offer them.