Sometimes you feel there is big improvement in whatever it is you´re doing, in my case is art. You have the feeling that some magic happened somewhere, because yesterday you weren´t able to do what you´re doing today, but the truth is that there no such thing as magic. It is just mileage. From time to time you look back and see the walked distance, and you are able to see the improvement. Then you look ahead again and see that the road never ends. Instead of getting discouraged I feel that when that happens you just can do one thing and that is to keep on going.
Here´s another portrait study that doesn't look anything near the reference and states that there´s a long way to go...
Zoom in
Made by @javicuesta
... and a quick process gif
This one took around 40mins, more than it was intended as the idea was just to focus on the main shadow and light shapes and not get distracted by details.
If you want :)