Okay, so I spent the weekend easing back into Photoshop and soaking up as much art knowledge as possible. This is a comparison of my two major attempts at coloring over a sketch. The difference surprised me so I figured a side by side comparison would be interesting.

Attempt #1
-Literally just my ref. pose.
-No understanding of gradient maps
-Didn't even finish eyes and hair XD.

Attempt #2
-Much simpler initial sketch
-Grayscale painting
-Gradient maps