Self Portraits 2013

Alright, so here are some self portraits for the start of the new year.  These are actually posted in the reverse order that they were completed.  The bottom portrait was my first attempt, it turned out to be more caricature than portrait.  The back of the cranium is too shallow, the mouth is too big, and a couple of other things. 
The second one is OK, but I clipped of a bit too much mass on my right, frontal cranium.  The treatment of the beard is a bit botched on the bottom, but I am really happy with the overall rendering and believability of the drawing.  The top picture is probably most proportionately/academically accurate. 
Overall, I would have to say that the middle one feels most like me, and if it weren't for those two mistakes, I'd be totally content with it.  This was a fun exercise, and I am glad that I continued after my first failure.  There are still some things, like the angularity of my designs that are slightly overstated, and my eyelashes too.  But I do like to allow an element of caricature in my portraits to a slight degree less than my first attempt. 
Nathan Fowkes explains this common problem of caricature artists that I demonstrated in my first attempt in this short demo (at around the 9:40 mark).  This is only a problem if it is undesirable, but it is good to know so you can either avoid or utilize it, but most importantly to be aware of it.  Be sure to watch the whole video...and all his videos for that matter.

Failure is alright, because the road to success is paved in it; and if that's true, I must have made a wrong turn at Albuquerque.  Enjoy!