Zodd Sketchbook

[Zodd]

Hello Zodd, nice study here, love your lighting and balance between cool and warm colors! Did you do it from refs or imagination? What was your goals, what you tried to learn by doing this portrait? It's not just a simple curiosity, but also this'd help with constructive critique.
I'm sorry if I understand your intentions\stylistic choices\goals in wrong way. But here is my critique: you need to study Asaro head, draw it, turn it, paint it, draw and paint from memory until you not just memorize outlines, but memorize shapes and planes this outlines represents.
You understand major forms (and this is great), but you get lost in middle and small ones. For example, your eyes are lacking 3D not because there is no highlight, but because they don't feel spherical: no eye lids with decent thickness covering\wrapping the eye. Although I see that you've done a great job shading a visible portion of an eye like a sphere, your shapes and forms are a bit off, you need to build a 3D effect with lines first and on top to add shading and color'll go last.
But don't worry, I'm struggling with 3D in my works too XD, in my several last posts at the Sketchbook there is a discussion of this issue here.
And the last word about highlights. Think of them as of sweet cherry on top of the chocolate cake, it adds attractiveness but it won't make a cake to taste better (especially if it's tasteless one). Form is revealed by shadows, make good drawings with shadow-to-light relations and you might not want to add any highlights. Also one good thing to know, that highlights happen when 4 or more planes meet in one spot (see convex and concave pyramids at the last image, sorry I can't find a better image. Oh, also this is a great page to look at the way author builds the eye).
Fuf, hope all I wrote could help you, sorry if I sounded too nerdy or intimidating, no offence, just desire to help.
Keep practicing and you'll make a fantastic art!
  

Thank you very much Roanna! <3 I just used one reference, i'll use more in the next ones x) I think i've lost myself on the process, trying to discover new techniques and forgot the other things hahaha