A Rose for mike

The linear work I do beforehand on watercolor pieces was something I started in an effort to get a graphic sense of weight and dynamics to watercolors. Due to the nature of the medium, I find that watercolors often get too soft and dreamy for my liking. I also found that if I delineated the edges with watercolors the pieces ended up looking too overworked. This way I can stay clean and simple.
I used to do most of this work with Koh-i-noor Nexus pens, but they are getting difficult to find, so I'm slowly migrating into using Faber-Castell Pitt pens or acrylics.

I first think in terms of temperature and tension and then I translate that into color. Blood is more visible in areas where bone is close to skin. Areas like fingers, elbows, knees, and toes really illustrate this property. I consider these visible blood flow areas as warm or hot regions, and my color choices will demonstrate those temperatures. Fingertips, knuckles, and elbows will get the absolute reddest lines. Whereas flashier "cooler" areas will get orange, ocher or sienna lines depending on their relative temperatures.
I also tend to heat up areas of tension. Note the area where the T-shirt pulls tight against the skin and rib cage on the above Red Rose set up drawing. This is not so much about how it would truly appear, but more about how it feels.