Update 5/1: I started working on the background and did my hair. I think it may be pretty much done.
Update 4/29: Per Prof. Murphy’s recommendation I converted my reference photo to black and white so that I could block out my lights, mediums, and darks for a little guidance with paint placement. While my painting is a little darker than I am currently, we’ll just say that it is meant to resemble what I look like in the summer when I get darker. I also went back to my master painter and started borrowing hos technique in my painting. I also started working a bit on the hair, since that is the next step.
Update 4/27: Here is the most recent progress. The eyes look really weird right now, but that’s because I haven’t done the lighter reflections in the glasses yet, so they aren’t done.
Update 4/23: Here is the preliminary stages of me painting the facial area.
Update 4/21: Here is my portrait sketched out on the canvas, along with it blocked out with a brown underpainting.
Sketch 
underpainting
Update 4/18: I sketched out my face and a semi grid. But of course I messed up the portrait since I got carried away with the oil pastels not knowing how to use them at all. But the goal I guess was to play around with the colors and figure out relationships and how they work together.
For my final project I have chosen to do a self-portrait, with my mentor artists being Kehinde Wiley and Jimmy Law. I will follow the Kehinde Wiley’s color scheme in the painting below, which I will follow Law’s choice of strokes and technique of pulling the paint into the face.
Kehinde Wiley 
Jimmy Law
