Hi @whatisjeff, nice studies! - In the first image, top drawing, light is coming from the right. You've drawn the left side of the mouth darker and the right side lighter, to show this. Remember that the ouline for the mouth also have to support this patterm; lighter to the right and darker to the left. - I don't have the reference you used, but I think it will help to increase the contrast between light and shadow. In the 2nd image, bottom drawing, some parts of the shadow are as bright as the light, which confuses the viewer and the form becomes more unclear. - In the lesson video Stan mentions the major planes; the mouth forms a stair-like pattern. The top lip angles down, and the bottom up. When light comes from above, the top lip will be much darker than the lower lip, since it's facing away from the light. Try to get more of that in your drawings. - One reason for why you can't see the "squishy pillows" in the reference might be because you're not considering the three-dimensionality of the lips. Maybe you're only focusing on the two-dimensional shape that the outline of the lips creates. From some angles the squishy pillows don't do much to the outline, and the only way to show them is through shading or crosscontour lines. The portrait drawing course mentions, but doesn't go into detail about drawing three-dimensionaly. One of the cornerstones in drawing is to learn how to draw simple geometric forms (like boxes, cylinders and spheres), which you'll then use in combinations to draw anything around you. The Figure Drawing Fundamentals course teaches you more about this and how it's applied, as well as other drawing skills that will help you in your portraits. Strongly recommend checking it out. To gain an overview of drawing three dimensionally I think you would appreciate watching this video 6 Steps to Draw Anything. Hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!