WIP of Lion Within: [link]
Drawing of my cat Eevee

The numbers in the corners are the number of hours used to complete that step

1. I was sitting downstairs with by drawing pad, wanted to draw something....
Decided to try draw Eevee
It's hard to draw from life subject, she didn't exactly stay in the pose for long
Well, I sketched it up and detailed it, went over it several times before I had the first image.
As my scanner wont work I had to take a photo of it to get it on my computer (with a tripod and long exposure that works fine )

2. I decided to base color it in gray, as she has a very gray undertone on her fur. Gave it a hint of blue to help bring out the worm color on the top. I filled the entire layer with the color and masked out the part i needed (I prefer masks over eraser) I wanted to bring out the light correctly for once (I barely ever make the light right at all ) so i ended up making a practically finished version of it in gray
Reminds me of 3D. First you model its shape, then you add the colors. And it's common to "clay render", witch render in gray just like this

3. I painted on the colors with the same brush as I made the gray version with. It's a special PS brush, barely modified.
It's named "Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow" (love it ) Just added Opacity = Pen Pressure (and sometimes lover the minimum diameter on shape dynamic)
it gives a nice blending brush =^_^=
So I blended in the colors, and added fluffiness on the entire body (by doing strain by strain by strain with the blending brush)
Also added the BG photo, witch is of the living room carpet.

4. With the colors added some of the volume had been lost. So I added some light and darkness on the fur. i then went over with a 1 pixl brush to add small strain on the entire fur, with a fluffy density so it didn't take to long. Did that twice, once with dark and once with light strains. Also added other small details.
Used burn and dodge on the carpet to make it look right for the drawing and give Eevee's shadow.