Picked the reference image to start the portrait. Observed three things that would play an important role in the illustration - mid tone, highlights, and shadows.
Started with basic doodling. Worked in layers as that would help to separate elements in the composition and allow experimenting with lights.
Found a cardboard texture on the net. Used it as a base for the illustration which would act as a middle tone. Multiplied that layer after importing it into the composition.
Refined the doodle a little more and then started with wet media brushes with the respective colour palettes. The first palette was for Lata Mangeshkar while the second one was for Asha Bhonsle.
Started with blocking shadows first with thick round brush of size 12 px.
Added black with round wet brush for more details in shadows. Downloaded ink splatter brushes from the net. Used them in different angles as highlights in the composition.
Used one of those brushes with scattering count 5. Refined till the desired effect was achieved. Used a round brush of 3 px for detailing with stylized black and white lines.
With the colour palette for Asha Bhonsle, started blocking shadows and then highlights. Lots of practice and observation of objects in different lightings helped in this job.
Blocked with the colours in the palette choosing dark for shadows and light for highlights.
For highlighting, used a wet round brush with white colour as a contour over it.
Used splatter brushes for final detailings.
Made a random flow of colour to differentiate the main object from the background. This made the composition balanced. Used writing brushes downloaded from the net on the splatter layer that separated the background.
Added writing brushes on a new layer and filled the splatter layer with different brush sizes. Erased the edges to blend the writing with the splatter brushes.
Used floral texture downloaded from the net to give some interesting background.
