@Chuck Ludwig Reina @Patrick Bosworth Here's where I landed before spraying the fixative. Can't wait to test this out!

First off, nice drawing. Tricky lighting like this can be a real pain. I think your instinct is a good one. In general, I never want my reflected light to be lighter than my mid-tones on the light side. It really throws off the feeling of dimension in a drawing. I think going a little darker there is a good stylistic idea. Although what you did do is also a totally valid direction. One thing to also always keep in mind: photos are liars. People mess with levels in photos, mess with exposure, are dealing with strange film or digital sensors. They also add tons of distortion that lenses add, which is very different from how we see. It's important never to be the slave to the photo reference. Often times things that look good in a photo look like trash in a drawing. Our eyes will forgive a lot in a photo but not a drawing (this is why traces of people in motion always feel so stiff). When I'm working with really strong reflected light, or a rim light I hate, I usually just try to ignore it. Ultimately what is important is the piece YOU want to make. Only take the inspiration from a photo that is helping you making the image as you see fit. While there is nothing wrong with doing "photo realistic" art, it is the decisions we make when working from reference or our imagination that expresses our unique take on the world. To me, that is what making art is all about. And good of you to post this and ask the question. The more you ask questions like this, and the more you really think about your process, the faster you will develop. Nice work, and keep drawing!

I'd suggest starting with a few compositional studies done around business card size 2"x3.5" or smaller. I like using neutral grey alcohol markers with a step between each value, so if you're doing a 5 value study a 2, 4, 6, 8, and a 10 or a black sharpie, with a white gel pen to pull back highlights etc. I use Chartpak AD markers, and Copic Cool/Warm Grey so those numbers are the one's I've found to be useful for quick comp studies. Basically you want to plan your value groups ahead so you know how to turn the form from light to dark. The Proko Value Tool is a handy way to take a complicated reference and simplify it quickly to get a read on the values you're dealing with. You don't have to use the output from it exactly, but it can help you identify or pinpoint how you want to group different values if you're unsure of how they fit into a simplified value range. Play with the sliders, and set the level of simplification high to get separate massed value groups. Once you know what you're aiming for, and how that particular reference breaks down into values you can start designing your composition based on that. The other thing to start familiarizing yourself with is the structure of the skull, and the planes of the face. Our buddy Tom here has a very gaunt face that shows a lot of the under structure of the skull through the skin and fatpads of the face, so knowing those landmarks, and how the face turns towards and away from the light can help you make some more educated decisions on how to deal with multiple light sources. Asaro heads are a great study guides for this, as well as the Proko Skull based on Loomis proportions. All that said, there's no harm in taking a stab at it to see what you can do! Worst case scenario you learn something to bring into the next one. Good luck, looking forward to seeing this one! https://www.proko.com/values https://www.proko.com/course/understanding-and-painting-the-head-marcobucci https://www.proko.com/tool/anatomical-skull