Drawing for upcoming painting

Same drawing, two photos. The painting will be based on drawings. My goal is to learn to analyze and remember what I see, like artists had to do before photography.

Study for self-portrait

Half happy, half angry. Drawn with calligraphy pen.

Portrait of Elliott (detail)

I'm thinking that I want to focus on shadows and exaggerate values by delineation.

Below is the palette so far. I've limited my color choices hoping that a rich set of values will emerge.

Palette used for John Cowan portrait