critique please :)

First off, could you please share some of the details, like software, use of wacom or other, is this a manipulated or painted piece?

Painted in photoshop and sai, with a wacom bamboo tablet.

Sai was used for general painting, while Photoshop was used for lighting and detail.

brushes: Mostly default round with the opacity around 40%, low flow.
Some textured brushes

Great software SAI, first off I love the dramatic chiaroscuro effects of the lighting, the brush strokes at the bottom is a great touch and looseness to the more refined and detailed upper portion of the piece. The monochromatic color scheme of red is very pleasing and brings out an emotional feel to the piece, really like the eyes and the highlights. No real proportional flaws except maybe the placement of the eye to the right may be to far to the right and the nose may be a bit smaller than it should be but not real noticeable.

Overall this is done very well, I can see it used a movie poster of some sorts...

Thank you for the input.

I love the dramatization you captured in your subjects eyes, it really adds drama to the photo. Was this piece painted, or created using software? Either way, great piece.