If I could express my joy over this painting in backflips, then I would be doing a quadruple! I'm really proud of it :) I've been oil painting since June and with this piece being my best yet, I'd like to submit for critique and tips. This sketch took me roughly 5 hours. I can tell many of it's flaws, like proportion and that parts are unfinished (I ran out of time). I'm less concerned about the "drawing" part and more about the painting part; about values, edges, color, the painting process, obvious painting mistakes, brushmanship etc. I studied Alla Prima II intently this spring and have been practicing my oil painting through small sketches this summer, but never had anyone look at my work. I've previously attempted self-portraits, but with this one I got a break through. 2 hours in I felt like I was starting to destroy it (I was very happy with the start). This is a point I've hit before. This time, instead of continuing I took a short brake and thought about it, and I noticed that I wasn't really copying the shapes; I had done so for the major shapes, but not the smaller, because analzying them requires a great deal of effort. But now I pushed through, trying to disciplin myself to analyze more carefully. And suddenly I saw more then I have ever seen before, and I grasped better then ever how to brake the face down into brush strokes! I attached some other sketches aswell, though I don't expect you to critique them all, just as a help in finding out my bad habits and weaknesses. And for fun :) Thanks in advance!