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A good example is Fitz:

Plain skin + blocked in shadows, several highlights. My goal is to break down an image to its most basic components, so I generally use blocky shapes.

While brushes do help, it will come down to your choice of colors and how you choose to blend.

On the left I used fewer shadows, and kept the values similar. Over all the image looks smoother and softer.

On the right the value range is way out of whack with dark purples and light orange muddying the picture. Ahsoka looks much more “painted” because each stroke is visible

Often times it can be helpful to view your artwork in black and white, as colors can be overwhelming or distracting. It can help you notice more flaws, and find correct values

Most of the time I don’t use any method. And less planning generally means it will be messier. However in the rare case I do, it would be something similar to this:

Fill in flats of the most basic colors. Because I add shadows and highlights, I keep all flats at a mid tone. I don’t blend I’ll just throw chunks of shadow where they fit.

I’ll add highlights on top, and color to eyes nose cheeks ears. Remember to add color as or similar to your original value

Finishing details I’ll add some background colors into the object (the more reflective your object is the more light/surrounding colors you want to cram in) and I like to go over some harsh line art with some neutral colors, which makes the overall look slightly less cartoony.