Hi @qcy, nice drawing! I think there are a few issues combined that gives you the feeling of it being off: One is the placement and proportion. You came really close with the nose and lips, but the eyes are a little misplaced and misshaped. The left eye hangs a little low for example, making the head loose some structure. A good way to make sure that the structure is working before having drawn any details, is to start with a Loomis head How to Draw the Head from Any Angle. You did a pretty nice job grouping the darks, but you have some dark contour lines in the lights that break the illisuion of light. In the ear for example, you have dark lines showing it's shape, but in the photo, there are no dark lines. The edge of the ear, is the edge of a light shape. You could also soften some of the edges along the terminator (the line where a form moves into shadow), to signal the softness of the form. I would highly recommend taking the Drawing Basics course! It's still in the making, so if you keep up with the assignments, I think there's a chance that you'll get feedback from Stan himself. Your drawing reminded me so much of the second project in the course (Project - Simplify from Observation). I think taking it will answer many of your questions! Hope this helps :) Keep up the good work💪😎

Generally I think the answer is yes, that is how I did mine. But sometimes Stan is pushing the positions to help exaggerate a bend, lean, or a twist

I think they look accurate enough, @qcy! Nice job!