I began by creating the general shapes of my facial features, and flushing out the background before  getting too specific. My facial features were constructed with the eyes first, so that the nose, mouth, and jaw shape could align. The last few details that were added truly allowed the portrait to resemble me, and those were the baby hairs on the face, the peeks of tattoos on the chest and shoulder, and the deepening of the shadows that shape the face.