I am not giving up. Now the drawing is sitting on my mantle so I can obsess over it from a distance every time I walk past. I am adding and subtracting as I check on it every few minutes. Here we are now:

It’s looking better. I’ve shaved quite a bit off the chin/cheek as well as the hair around back. I pulled in the jawline, darkened the hairline in order to define it, and enlarged the eyes slightly. Rather than resize the eyes altogether, I will resize everything- just a bit.

Now for the 8b pencil.