Oh GOSH, I love sketchbook express. imo it works a bit more like traditional media as opposed to digital, which is lovely. I have the mobile version that I used to make
this sketch (literally) by hand (er... finger. xD). I'm not 100% sure what the full version has in terms of blending options, but there should be a blender in the tools. Play with opacity on your brushes, and you may not need it! You may want to try
Paint Tool SAI. Unlike photoshop, it's distinctly for drawing / painting, so it runs a bit faster and has tools more geared for drawn work instead of graphics. It's not free (there is a 30 day trial), and it is Japanese [though there is an English pack you can download], but it's several hundred dollars cheaper than photoshop. >.>
The
copic sketchbook edition is a lot like autodesk in that it mimics traditional media (markers, specifically) very closely. The free version only allows 5 layers and compresses them when you save / export, but it's not bad for a free program. :]] I did
this in a combo of copic sketchbook (base sketch, base colours, prelim shading), and SAI (definitive lines & shading touch up).
I'd love to help more if you need -- I do a lot of character art / colourisation. I'm still learning on backgrounds, so I can't really help too much on that (I can do good line-drawn environments, but painting/colouring is something else entirely >_< )
If you'd like, I can look around for a trial copy of autodesk and play around with it to help ya. :] & if you want, feel free to send me the file so I can be more specific.