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Squint
Michael, I don't think I would be as brave as you, posting a first effort in a long time from a portrait class.
Some things that have worked for me. Squinting, this gives you a better comprehention of value relationships. We have a tendency to focus on the areas that we think are the most important, the eyes, lips, etc. Squinting puts them in proper relationship.
I personally do not like to draw where I don't have control of the model, so I often hire my own. It is worth the money, you can work at your own pace, you have a model you like and you can most often sell the drawing. You can team up with a couple of other artists to save on cost. I post notices on bulletin boards at art schools or art dept. at colleges. I usually pay $ 10 to $ 15 an hour, usually averaging $12, even for a figure model. I also get neighborhood kids even cheaper. Usually other artists have their favorite models and can tell you who is reliable.
I do also go to open figure drawing sessions to keep my draing skills up.
I hope this has helped.
Sincerely
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