Self Portrait

So, I forgot to take in progress pictures for this, which is really bad of me, I know.  In my defense, though, I drew this really quickly so taking day 1, day 2 photos wouldn't have really mattered.
     I know people look at this and think of "A Bad Case of the Stripes," but I really didn't mean to copy that idea.  This project was introduced on the day that I was sick, and I came in the next morning and came up with this idea and the reference photo in time for inspection.
     Directly below, you can see my planning piece for this portrait. Um. I don't know what happened, I really don't.  I thought it was a good picture when I first drew it, and as you can tell I played with the ideas of having different colored stripes throughout my face instead of just one solid color each time.  I also had the idea of not doing just random colors for each stripe, but a rainbow gradient down my face.
      I really have no idea how I can copy the same pictures twice and end up with such drastically different results each time.  Anyways. I really like the brown stripe under the nose in this one, it looks good enough to be part of the final.  

       I do appreciate the effect the orange had overall, though?  Sometimes I look at it and I feel like it's Halloween, which it is, but not Halloween in a good way. Or, like, an old timey prison jumpsuit, but with orange instead of white?  Overall, though, I like the orange.  I like the way that I've blended it with red and purple and yellow.  It makes me really confident about using prismas again.
      I wish I had used a little more expression in the face and given myself more of a challenge, but that's what my concentration's for, right?  I like my shading and composition, and how I used color.  I really like the fade out in the background, with the intensity of color fading out into the light blue, which is sort of the reverse of what's happening into the face.  I think that the texture in the hair really makes the picture that much better.  And I am so happy that I redid the eyes over again, because they look really great.
     If I could change anything, I would make everything just a bit smoother. The shading, specifically.  Again, I would change the expression of the face to give the drawing more complexity.  I also don't know that it looks like me? But I always make my face longer when I'm trying to fill up a page, so that's nothing new.  I would darken some shadows now that I'm staring at it, and would probably go back in with the lights if I had a chance, but I really like this piece and am glad that I had the chance to create it.

Ms. Sudkamp told me that it's been really nice seeing how my art has matured since art 1, and I agree.  It's really refreshing to be able to look at this compared to, like:

http://apex-2017-emmaspace.blogspot.com/2014/03/portrait-project.html

It makes me really proud of what I have been able to accomplish so far, even if it isn't all that spectacular in the grand scheme of things.