Morning Glow

I wanna return to my routes as an aspiring manga artist, but to do something more than soft-cell shading. So, with my last days in front of these GLORIOUS Cintiq tablets and with Photoshop CS4 at my disposal, I attempted to do an anime-styled drawing with hints of painterly qualities, mostly referencing the applications of Rembrandt. While the "end" result is much more muted than the old master's applications, I again have to use the excuse of "I'm colorblind, cut me some slack here!"
But, of course, if that was even a valid excuse... I shouldn't even touch the digital medium. But something about it speaks to me, something about it I just enjoy so much. And... I... love... LAYERS. This drawing has 115 layers, including the original sketch layer. I tried lots of things I was initially uncomfortable with and in that experimentation found things that worked and didn't. I tried blocking out odd color combinations and messing with the hue/saturation levels to make them fit, then blending on a layer over them. I layered many retakes on the breast area because while the model I originally sketched from did not have her right breast visible from where I sat, some people felt I should at least hint at one there. And the colors! With the little complaints of colors every now and then, I found myself throwing purple and brown over many parts of her body and trying stuff out. I got confused by the light source a LOT. I questioned if that was really my light source. I questioned if I had one in front of her, 'cause I was doing that generic little eye-light thing that must be present in any anime character drawing (not that this is even a real character) lest they be considered soulless. And... well, I had fun. That's the most important part.

And the part that is probably more important... I have soooooo much work to catch up on that I'm probably not gonna submit anything for a while, and I'd say that period would stretch a week long. However, with my comic due next week, I'll find time to at least scan that in before returning to NJ and seeing all of my friends once again. Oh, how I miss you all!
Special thanks to for his help, I probably didn't utilize everything you said but I tried!

EDIT: Fixed the placement on the nipple. I think it's better now.