There’s no doubt you are good – but there’s a lot of room for improvement. The sketch of the eye you did is indeed one of your best – because it has that thing that puts life in a sketch, however, sorry but the eyes and the lips seem to be your failing. In most of your sketches the technical aspects are near perfect but your subjects lack life. In this one for example you’ve done a very creative job with the shading and I actually like your version of the background more than the original. But you sucked the life out of the face. Also the change in the size of the lips compared to the original just changed everything for the worse in as far as the face is concerned. The tightly held back hair in the original and a barely visible necklace lend a beauty there which you have taken away by giving flowing hair and a prominent necklace to your subject. I hope some Blues & Jazz fans will not get mad at me in my comparison of you to Eric Clapton who remained a tremendous Blues and Jazz singer who was technically perfect but lacked the soul put into the Blues and Jazz by Black singers – until that is – his father passed away and he wrote an ode to his father. That is when he had soul in his Blues and that is when he became an effortless singer. I am not suggesting that you need to go through some trauma to be a good painter, but the passion is not quite there yet my friend. In that regard – that someone who really went all the way in hacking you and your talent – perhaps someone whose heart you broke and never bothered to apologize and the only ne who you replied to on this site – may not be totally off the mark. You are not BAD but you need to get to being EXCELLENT yet. So don’t let all these compliments get to you. The path to perfection is a lonely one and satisfaction with one’s work is a road to a dead end.

Your co-traveller

PS: By the way, I am neither an artist nor a musician. I am a scientist – a genetic engineer – but I have grown up with a lot of art and music around me as both my parents were professional artists and musicians, as are a couple of other members in the family; and 46 years of that does put me in a position to voice my opinion. I hope you take it as constructive criticism and dont feel bad about it. Indeed the fact remains that all of this might just be anal and I am just another one of those messed up individuals who have nothing better to do than put people down. You will decide.
PPS: Your Shiva is also quite good but not yet there.