Portrait of Faridoon (Patreon)

My first successful portrait of Faridoon, one of the protagonists from project TEOS; in all honesty, I've little to say: the procedure went well, though took longer than desired...t'is  but another step t'ward mastery, I suppose, but it still falls woefully short of artists I admire...I wonder what methods or principles I've overlooked, or does competition and criticism, alone, drastically elevate one's potential?