Just drowning in shallow water. I keep thinking of my old art. I was way more confident with experimenting, not so stilted as I am now. I want to go back. My, aren't I just ungrateful? Meow.
Experimenting with colouring method.
Recipe for anyone interested: Square hard edge pencil, 2-12 size, about 110 opacity + scatter (the smaller, the larger amount). The smaller the size, the darker the shade. All sizes on separate layers (biggest at the bottom to smallest at the top) set on multiply. Last layer on default for extra shading (the one that is affected by multiply). Top layer overlay to add some colouring (above: pinkish tones in red). Lineart in size 2 square hard edge pen. Add to that highlights w/ chromatic abberation (3 layers on the very top of add coloured in red, blue and green).
Background squiggles? I wasn't the one who invented this technique, so I won't keep it a secret. Yeah, just use airbrush on max size (important: round hard edge or round soft) + extra low opacity. Spray it evenly on a transparent layer, then use a bucket tool in different places on the canvas. Make sure to not coil the airbrush too tightly / overlap it - you may end up with a lot of stray pixels when trying to fill the squiggles in.
Also made modifications using the texture brushes in some places.
If anyone does use it in a oekaki piece, I'd be happy to see it + drop a like, so feel free to drop a link in the comments below.