Malia's sacrifice (contest entry)

This is my entry to the Comfort-break challenge being held by  

This piece is outside of my comfort zone for quite a few reasons.
 FIRST: I've never drawn a dark skinned woman before. Not because I don't like them, but because I don't feel my style compliments them the way I would want it to.
 SECOND: Drawing women is something I only recently learned to do properly and it is still difficult for me to do. Especially breasts.
 THIRD: Lineless backgrounds and backgrounds in general aren't something I'm good at, especially not water and clouds. Even the perspective on the bridge is something I find a challenge.
 FOURTH: I am bad at snakes and most animals.
 FIFTH: I usually do more of a cel shading style with my markers, but I went for a full shaded and blended layered style this time, which frankly terrified me. I also tried reverse layers for some parts, adding the darker parts first and then blending the lighter bits into it. And more warm colours than I usually use!
 SIXTH: I went for a longer face and more realistic lips than I am used to. I also added more shine accents than usual to areas I'm usually too nervous to try.
 SEVENTH: Crazy curly hair is something I've never been able to do properly.
 EIGHTH: I used the pinkish purple highlights from the game this character is from, which was a first for highlights.

I also used more mediums in one than usual. For this I used Copic markers, coloured pencils, gel pen, and acrylic paint. And a spray bottle with clear blender in it for the blur in the background.

I used a ton of tutorials and references for help with this and I feel they helped me learn more about how to control my markers, and how to prepare for the end result. Usually I will add the shines and other details as I go because I panic and can't visualize how it will look later. This time I forced myself to stick it out to the end and go with the flow, which I think helped me learn how to think ahead more. I also learned that coloured highlights and curly hair are a lot of fun. And improved on my posed women proportions.
The links to what I used:
 Pose help fav.me/d7192bc
 Shading help imaginationinternationalinc.co… , copicmarkertutorials.com/marke…
 Skin help fav.me/d6f9j39
 Character reference gabrielknight.wikia.com/wiki/M…
 Background reference www.engineergirl.org/File.aspx…
The lake is Lake Pontchartrain, which is an important place in the game.

I chose this character because a close friend of mine recently introduced me to the Gabriel Knight series of games, which I fell in love with. Especially the first one, Sins of the Fathers. Lovely characters and amazing voice actors (like Tim Curry and Mark Hamill), and a great plot. 
Malia Gedde's story and how it intertwines with Gabriel's is especially entrancing. And no she's not killing the snake.
I'm not sure I like the sky, but I tried something new so I learned some for next time. I hope the drawing is at least somewhat pleasing to look at!

Progress shots: 
fav.me/da25ui9
fav.me/da25usc
fav.me/da25uzr


Wish me luck!

 Link to the contest journal: fav.me/da1qrvv