Very pretty Bette. The thing with drawing portraits or anything from a ref is to draw what you see, not what you think you see. This takes longer but eventually your able to pick out how things look and form. It was a lesson taught to me and it works. Look at the ref, examine it, note how far apart the eyes are, the form of the nose, the mouth, the shape of the face.

When doing any portrait it's best to use the basic step of forming an upside down egg (the head) then measuring halfway horizontal and vertical. Measure half way between the horizontal line and the chin, add a line, then a line halfway between the first two lines. Those form the eyes, nose and lips. From the corners of the eyes to the middle of the bottom lip should form a triangle. From that basic set up you can learn to draw anyones portrait. I can tell you have the basic setup it just needs a little work. Hope some of that helps, keep it up.

aww thanks dave, you made me feel like it wasnt all a waste of time :)

and you too sweetcell :) thanks so much for the advice. I will try to incorporate the techinique you suggested in the future.. I have one im working on now thats hidden and if I don't mess it up I'll show it soon, but its too late to try it on that one cuz I already did her face but after that one I will try it I promise :) thank you again for your nice words and your help .. I've never had any art classes in my life so I really appreciate any advice.

Wow! I think you did a great job Betty! The more you practice and work at something... the better you will get. This is lovely!

thank you so much Aakyra, that means a lot to me and I'm learning so much by just watching you and all the other very talented artists draw in here.

P.S. and I swear I get so envious of you guys ..but it makes me try harder so that's a good thing lol :)

aww thanks dorsy I really appreciate your nice comment :)