Fun with drawing

This month I've been receiving interviews with artists in my inbox through Heidi Easley's Creating From Your Soul free online event. Each artist shares about their work, gives a tip, and often a giveaway  as well. 

One of the artists was Tamara LaPorte. Her tip was about making eyes look more life-like. Of course, I wanted to try this out, especially as she pointed out various things that I hadn't thought about but wanted to apply. So above is an eye I drew with reference to a photo in Drawing Lab for  Mixed-Media Artists by Carla Sonheim, and below is a face using what I learned. There are a lot of things I can see that could be better, but over-all, I'm pleased with the progress I have made with faces. 

Here is a face I did a couple of years ago, for contrast: