Portrait of Young Man After Albert Dera Painting

I wanted to improve my ability to paint portraits. I felt I exhausted the self-portrait and needed fresh subject matter. I decided to paint portraits from stock photos that I found on the Internet. The first photo that I chose to paint was this stock photo from the photographer Albert Dera. I thought the young man was very handsome. I didn't think I did very well my first try doing this so I hid the painting under my bed. After over six months had passed and I had done better in my succeeding portraits I decided to come back to this photo. I didn't do him justice the first time so I tried a second time and I reached a result that I found satisfying.