Here is John with the rest of his lines inked in. If this were a black and white (or monotone) piece, I would’ve probably gone crazy with the little details. However, this is going to be colored, so there’s a lot of “empty” areas. The color will provide the feeling of depth and volume to the picture that stuff like cross-hatching and spot blacks would provide in a black and white picture.

Small details like the texture of the hammer, the wrinkles in his skin and the lines on his clothes are things I like to save for the inking portion because it helps give a sense of ‘random natural’ feel to it, and also saves time in the penciling phase. However, if you like penciling in details like that before inking, then you go right ahead!

Do whatever in art that makes you comfortable; that’s how you can make the best art you can. Don’t keep yourself in a rut though; try out as many mediums, styles and techniques as you can. You’ll pick up a lot of neat little tricks and ideas of how to use your skills and your tools the more that you try. If you’re scared you’re going to mess up, don’t worry about it. Art is meant to be played, experimented, created with, so get out there and do it!