working with references

This a screenshot of me working on another Castle Wall character portrait. I wanted to show work in progress and working with references. The author definitely had specific actors in mind to stand as references for her characters, and since portrait-ing is a new thing for me I am now working pretty directly from the references.  I really hesitated with this at first because it felt like cheating, but given how much I've been learning and improving I really feel it is a viable method for creating original pieces of art.  I'm certainly improving a lot and learning as I go.  A great tip I've learned recently in working (since managing my energy has been so delicate) is to try to do it as effortlessly as possible. This doesn't mean don't work hard, in fact I think it helps to find more creative ways to learn and move forward with projects. The alternative can sometimes be to be too overwhelmed or under qualified for what you think you should be doing and then nothing gets done at all. So by all means, Keep It Simple Stupid! And always, Keep Moving Forward!!