Just finished watching Steven Zapata's video on shading from imagination. Thought I'd give the exercise a try. Feedback welcome!

Most artist will say to study from life when practicing but it's been really heard to do that given the pandemic. Any tips for how to make the most of photo references? Or things to account for in photos (saturation? depth of focus?) that don't need to be managed when studying from life?

Considering the pandemic, opportunities to draw from life are hard to come by; I've heard some artist say they can always tell when someone hasn't had much practice with working from observation...in an effort to make the most out of my photo references what should I be mindful of that would be different when working from life? Besides, of course, that some design decisions are done for you. (I've noted artist mentioning discrepancies with color and proportion?)

Technically, your design is elegantly simple. If you were to make this into a finished drawing, I'd echo @Paul Weekes and suggest developing the full range of mid tones, as well as punching up the contrast between the subjects gaze and the background. As a former makeup artist your highlight design is so endearing! It reminds me of how I'd place highlighting makeup on the face, the bit near the jawline is especially reminiscent of a sort of 'carving' technique I used to use. In a 2D context though, I don't think it's as successful in describing the forms of the cheek area in profile. There's a good example of creating these forms In the preliminary lay-ins of @Stephen Bauman's most recent quick sketch live stream.

hey there!! I'm non binary and North African x would love to chat and connect!!!!