Book Illustration process

So, here are some process shots for some of the illustrations I made for my Book Illustration class.





I must say, I am pretty dissatisfied with the final result. The black and white point wasn't bad, but the colors weren't so good... Part of the reason is because I used a process I wasn't satisfied with, which is adding the colors after doing the complete black and white drawing. It's not easy to deal with the different layer modes to get exactly the color you want. I don't think I'll be using that again...

I'd love to get into more traditional art, but I'm afraid to struggle to much with the medium and having a hard time achieving the result I want. It would be because of lack of practice with it, but as it is I'm never practicing with it, and will never get better at using traditional paints. I guess I just need to work the courage to really start.