All aboard

I'm using Strathmore regular surface heavyweight illustration board. It's adhered to a sheet of permanent self adhesive foam core. This technique uses a ton of water, so I'd like to avoid any buckling. I've also taped off the borders with 3M painters tape. This stuff can take a drenching and still hold a clean edge. Available at your local hardware store.
I want the drawing to show through to the end, so I'm going fairly heavy-handed, and I'm using Berol Verithin pencils. They are a lot like Prismacolor, but they are harder and hold up a little better under wet conditions.
I'm also starting to set up the permanent acrylic work. I will eventually do rubout work in the highlights, and for that I will need to use a non-permanent pigment like gouache, but I'm using fluid acrylics for those areas of the deep shadow.