Congrats for the improves!
Good bg, I like the composition of values you gave it, its light adds depth to the image, even though it's formal.
You might still give it some attention, on some points Helm raised and others.
Edit in 4 steps:
- saturate the portrait, colors are a bit flat against that bg;
- darken and redden hair. Not sure about redden, don't see from the photo what your real color is!
-
important: recycle colors! I did it very grossly with the paint bucket, to hair and shirt, with some greens from bg. You get the idea. This will
really unite the different parts of your pic. Do it also between hair and face colors which are separate ramps now.
- even more important: get that dithering under control! There's far too much of it, and far too systematic. I tried that quickly on the face. I think this piece needs a little of it, but this is the moment where each single pixel you add must be checked at 100 or 200%, and ditched if unnecessary! I didn't do it carefully enough: you have to check the effect on the lines, shapes, shading, and texture of the face.
This portrait really deserves the effort you did / will put in it! =)