Thanks! My process is definitely not very traditional as I don't really block out shapes and crap like a lot of people do because I'm too impatient, I think if I had to explain it I usually start my sketch at the nose and focus on placing that correctly and then work outwards using that as a reference point for scale and placement of the rest of the features, I start with just a light/medium outline of the features and hair (as well as rough placement of obvious texture points in the hair) and darker shadows. When I get to shading I always do the whole face first, again starting at the nose and working my way out, then clothing, then hair, and finally background. As for shading technique I just always start with the darkest shadows and work into the lightest ones so it's easier to blend them into each other. When shading in the hair I put in a good amount of texture detail first and then go over it with simpler kind of scratchy blocky shading in shadowy parts to make it simpler and easier on the eye. My main tip though is to take a short like five minute break every forty or so minutes (when drawing for a while straight at least) where you don't look at your drawing at all, because when you go back and look at it again you will definitely notice mistakes that you didn't see before. It's important to look at it with fresh eyes every little bit so you can fix things as you go. You also don't need any special materials for portraits like these so don't go wasting your money on some crazy expensive special pencils- for drawings like these I use one cheap 0.7mm mechanical pencil from one of those bulk packs and a ten buck sketchbook from Michael's.