I came up with this general process after fiddling around with things in photoshop for a couple of hours, (the main thing was that for some reason my tablet was not working correctly on my pc). Basically I use exclusively the pen tool. I start with the basic shape of the object, usually curving even straight lights slightly to give it the hand drawn feel. with the background or "fill" done i then work on the shadows and highlights. On a new layer set to multiply I put in the detail, in the case of the samples the wood grains, let marks, knots, etc... sometimes adding a highlight layer as well (usually white, set to transparency), and also any other layers to create detail. I then create a new top layer, and hand draw a fairly thick outline to the entire object. The thick hand drawn outline is fairly important, since it gives it that whole cell shadey, comicbook feel to it...

So. Thats my proceedure. In photoshop and illustrator I can also add the outline glow, which doesn't seem to be possible in inkscape (or i haven't found it yet)... I'm also having trouble going about making custom palettes in inkscape... seems to be much more complicated then it should be...

if theres any ideas anyone has about speeding my process up, making it better, or some tips on using inkscape, please share! otherwise, tell me what you think of this style!