I will take this drawing as an example since it is one of recorded pieces. This is a drawing of a Chinese mint oil for mosquito bites. My method of drawing realistic drawings is mainly influenced my Marcello Barenghi, who uses an array of materials including spray gun, marker, watercolor, color pencil, pen...
You always start with a base drawing.
These outlines can be either simple or complicated, based on your personal preference. However I prefer the outline to be able to differentiate major color blocks. You can see from this picture that there are some lines indicating the general shape of color blocks.
After the outline, I started to blocking in basic color using watercolor.
Notice here the color have very little variation since this is only the base color, and I will be adding more layers of colors on top of it. This step does not need to be precise, but you still have to get the general value and tone of the base color correct in order to work on it.
After laying down the general colors, I started to be more specific and precise of adding details.
I usually use the combination of marker and color pencils. Marker has more range of values and color pencil is great at drawing details. With the base color, I first depict the dark values using marker. Then I add the details in the dark using color pencil. After that, I uses marker to draw a layer mask on top of the color pencil to glaze and to correct the tonal value of the color pencil. Then I move on to the lights using the same technique. However, I often use white watercolor paint and white pencil to create the highlights.
For drawing details, one of the advise I can say is to treat the object in terms of colors instead of the object itself. I always think what is the value of color of the green glass--sap green tint and all other greens with bright white highlights-- instead of thinking the glass just as a green glass. With this analytical perspective, drawing details could be easier. Also, it is important to remember that you never never draw exactly the same as the object in real life or in photo! So do not try to replicate every detail of the object, which is simply impossible (except for some of you who are really really good). Try to draw the important detail such as texture, correct highlights or even the correct color. Correct highlight will reflect the texture of the object, which makes it look realistic.
At last, I added the shadows. In Marcello's drawing videos, he always does this step the first using spray paint, which make the shadow really smooth and realistic. However, I do not have the equipment, I just used watercolor to paint shadows on, which is not really smooth.
Well, these are some of my thought process when drawing realistic drawings. Here is the video for this drawing.
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