You know, I really like the topic of this post and the results. Thank you for taking the time to write it!

I do wish you’d go in to a bit more details on the step-by-step .. how did you get from paths to filled shapes? Did you rasterize at some point or leave as shapes? Did you lock transparencies as you painted with the grainy brush (I appreciated the screenshot of the brush settings!)? Did you use gradients or gradient masks to refine these textured shadows and highlights? Etc., etc. I can sort of guess, but, I’d love to hear your approach in a bit more detail if you don’t mind a quick article update :)