Night sketching

I wanted to draw something before going to bed, so I bugged one of my buddies to do some sketching with me and we decided on mixing megaman and dante together as one character. So here's the result, I put a little step by step for beginners who are interested to see how I create my work. Bear in mind I did this in an hour from concept to finish, so obviously the more time you put in your work (especially the foundation of your image) the better the result will be.

1_draw a sketch.
I always draw my sketches on paper, I just can't get into drawing on the computer, I don't know why, but it just doesn't work for me. Maybe one day when I can afford to buy myself a cintiq, it'll be different, because that feels more like sketching on a notepad, but untill then...

2_start inking
Scan in your drawing and open it in photoshop (or any program you like working in), I use the standard brush in photoshop with my tablet for pressure sensitivity. I draw at 200% because I suck at drawing straight lines, so the more zoomed in you work the better, because you wont be able to spot the shakey lines when you view it from far. When you have nice long curved lines though, you might want to zoom out and draw from the shoulder.

This iis how my image looked inked: Try to use thick and thin lines to show depth in your drawing. I actually ended up drawing a thicker line around the cannon arm because it's the closest to the camera.

3_Flats
Now it's time to fill in your drawing with flat colors, you can use the lassoo tool if you want but I prefer to just usea big brush and color everything thing in manually.

this is the result

4_Shading
Now its time to draw ontop of your flats and add some 3dimensionality. You probbaly already picked a lightsource when you were inking, so stick to that and make sure the shadows all come from the same source. When adding highlights you need to concider where you want to guide your viewers attention to. Thats where the highlights usually will be stronger. I used to make a big mistake of using highlights everywhere.
If its a sword it has to be shiny right? No..if that sword is in the background it needs to stay subdued or it will distract from what's happening.

and there we go, finished! This is a simple drawing style which suits quick concepts and comic art. If anybody wants more in depth information, don't hesistate to ask me.