Thanks.  I'll check those out!  And yes, I'm definately using backdrop photo references.  :)   I'm not a good enough artist to go even this far without them.  But there seem to be certain sections where the photos don't help much, like behind the nostils.  And the ear looks daunting.  .  One thing I thought of was whether maybe some people do the nose and ear seperately, unlike what I'm doing here, and then just join the verts?