Playing with Dark: A Self-Portrait

I did my matric year in 2012. It feels like a lifetime ago, maybe in some sense it has been a lifetime. Anyways, I only recently stumbled upon the images a took for the "progress" report. This was my final exam: we had 18 hours (9 hours over two days) to complete the work. So this took 18 hours to draw, with ample amounts of coffee. I know everyone likes the progress photos, and these are my most complete progress photo sketch. This is also my last big (A3) sketch. I think it is one of my best work. The title is: Playing with dark (or in my native tongue "'n Spel met donker"). The theme for the exam question was: Play. So, you had to do anything related to plying. My theme was Playing with the dark chiaroscuro effects in pencil.

Also, I posted the first sketch I made to see if the idea will work, or a pre-sketch. I think it looks quite nice to compare the two. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this rather intimate artwork and a look at how I draw.

The Final Artwork:

The pre-Sketch:

The Progress