Easing into the design

I've noticed when doing a self portrait the beginning of the design is the most frustrating part as I felt like I wanted the image to look like me straight away. However I've found that when doing \any design the begging part is more about the flow and being creative, you can always render later on.

Now I feel like my painting is slowly coming together but I still need to give it that extra character hmmmm maybe something I can relate to myself? I don't want this to be a standard self portrait I want more character.