This is a good portrait. There are areas that could use improvement though. For instance, the right side eye (his left) is a bit flat compared to the other one and the iris appears to be off slightly. Actually the entire right side seems a bit flat compared to the left but that can just be an illusion. As Wassie said, a critique on likeness requires the reference.

I don’t know what you intent was but to someone, regular person like me, it looks awesome. If I would not have read your description, i would not even be looking for anything wrong. If i had to pic something, i would say you went to crazy with the white and should have just used it much more sparingly. It does NOT look like a photograph which is a HUGE plus for me. If it looked like a photograph then I would say “whats the use in drawing it”. just take a picture. Photographs should be trying to look like paintings. Paintings should not be trying to look like a photograph’s….I particularly like the lines on the shirt. You stopped it before you went to far. I like that you did not rub out all the roughness and texture (bad habit of mine). I think a drawing should look like a drawing. I think When a person see’s the best drawing’s, they should be able to tell it’s a drawing, not just a copy of something else. I could be all wrong. Just my opinion.

I have just been thrown out of the inn where I was staying, naked as a worm. Claude Monet

The colors are very pleasing, almost marble-like.

It looks pretty good.

Your frustrations with the medium/paper do translate to the viewer, tho.

Betcha if you set it aside for a month or two and lost yourself in a couple of other projects, when you finally came back to it with fresh eyes, you’d fix it lickety-split.