Decided to do a painting study, using Raffie! You can find the final still image on my twitter or instagram.
My process is usually to sketch out a clear version of what I want to paint, then block in a base skin tone. The most important step for me is third image in the above gif; airbrushing general areas of colours (blush, shadow, highlights). I can then eyedrop colours directly on the canvas to do the details, which allows for a unified palette of colours on the whole image.