Thank you sm for the tips! I can def visualize how the digital is done based on your desc tho traditional is gonna take a lot of experiments for sure, and I'll have to check out those pencils/gelly rollers myself

No problem! You may actually have better success with watercolor pencils. I forgot they exist, it’s been a while since I’ve done art traditionally, but they were my main tool for details like that. They layer better than typical colored pencil and you can use a bit of water to blend and fade them