This character portrait is a monk of The Order of the Platinum Dragon. I put him in a windy environment to add a bit more of a "tranquil" feeling to the piece. 

The rough lines here I used to justify the pose and facial expression of the character. It also allowed me to shape out his dread locked hair before i used black lines. His action line (spine) has a curve to it, like a martial arts pose. It also keeps the drawing from becoming "stiff".

The inking on this piece really pops to me. The client did not want full body, so i simply cut him off at the waistband. Keeping composition in mind, I felt this was the best course of action since i wanted to show his hands.

The client requested deep tan skin, one silver eye and one blue eye. I decided to work this piece 'Dark to Light'. This means my flat colors were the shadow values of the character, and i could lay the highlights over top of my flay colors.

Using yellow light, like the sun, I added a single 'color dodge' layer at 50 % opacity to add in the lighting. I had to think hard about hair, and how the light would hit each dread. but a soft gradient from the left side added a "sunset" type feel tot he lighting situation. I really enjoy this piece.