You can ask him how long some of his work takes. It all depends on the person and their experience in years. To me, that wouldn't matter, unless one is being paid on a strict time deadline.

Just having fun, learning technique, etc, all the time one needs to feel relatively good about what they've done is fine.

Presently, I have been earning my keep in running with horses , the big dogs of the industry , on human portraits . Learning and refining my own style in techniques on the amazing details of the human form.

Your friend's images are very well done. Every artist is their own worst critic, or should be, in that elusive balance to be motivated to do better, without becoming so disheartened that they quit.

Humans are among the most challenging subjects to do, much less for a relative beginner. On the other hand, the sooner they dive into the remarkable world of the human form, the faster they will master it in time.

Graphite pencil is perfect to start out with. The enjoyment of blending, accenting, shading, all done in B&W, is a good way to focus on values , and not have the added stress of also blending colours.

Tell him all of us go through these difficult times, then a breakthrough, soaring motivation, then leveling off to more refinement in their own style , over time.

Also, if he takes breaks away from an image, that helps rest the mind and eyes , to see it fresh later , then things can jump out at him that needs attending to or changing.

Decent materials and tools make life in anything better. If your tools are low quality, that makes the job more difficult.

Decent lighting is a must. I use a mix of more fluorescent AND regular yellow bulb trac lighting. Along with working in daylight near a window helps a lot.

I work both on a flat desk surface, and a slight incline adjustable surface.

One more strange thing I find really does it for the final finishing touches...or even mid way. Ill scan my image at any point , put it on my Mac screentop, and just casually gaze at it. Leave it there for a time as you work. Its amazing how things jump out to me that I need to tweak or change on a scanned image, that I dont so easily see in the original. Happens every time. Sometimes with small images, being able to see that scan in a zoom mode can really help to see where I need to make changes.

But to be reasonable in all that, and dont stress too much over a subject. Theres a time to call it DONE, despite the nagging irritant that it could...should be better.

Just enjoy the process , and dont pick yourself to death...or try not to.

Believe me....that kind of whip cracking, disciplined stress will have to be dealt with as he gets to the chapter in his life where others hire him for art.

Other images done for fun, he can happily sell when others like it and want to purchase them.

In a nutshell. Just have FUN.

I’m sure someone somewhere could find faults in those, but that Chic pic looks like a B/W photo! I hope that kid is in a higher learning school of art somewhere. I believe his talents could take him places if they haven’t already.