How Do You Shade? Or How Do You Blend Colors To Create The Soft Edges That Your Drawings Have?

How do you shade? Or how do you blend colors to create the soft edges that your drawings have?

I don’t have any wips atm, I’m sorry in advance for using a messy sketch… orz

So if I’m working with a sketch, I will fill the whole background with white (or some white-ish color, but any color works fine). 

But with a clean lineart, I prefer to have a transparent background. So I only fill what I’m planning to color with gray, in that case, I lock the color layer:

Either way, I only use 1 layer for better color blending. I add layers if necessary.

I use this brush for coloring:

I usually start by the skin, then the face (eyes, mouth), hair, and in the end, clothes. Skin first, I just apply base color:

Then I choose a dark pink-ish color as shade. Light source is coming from the top right.I try to not press my pen too hard.

same color + using airbrush (don’t press too hard!):

Done with the skin part.

Once again, don’t press too hard when you’re applying base color. It’s fine if it’s not smooth. Try to keep in mind where the light source is. 

More contrast with darker shades + lights:

I try to apply a darker shade within the first shade (does that even make any sense?):

Well, I think you will probably need to try it out by yourself. That brush might be a bit weird to use, but once you get used to it, it should be fine!