Unfinished Ninjas

I like publishing unfinished work here on my blog.  It gives me a chance to show you the steps I take to get one of my doodles done.  Here is a large family project that I am in the middle of.  This is a surprise gift for the father.  There are so many faces I'm having to drawn it on a larger piece of paper—14x17.

These are photos that I took of the piece to give "Mrs. Ninja" updates on my progress.

This is not the best shot—just a quick click of the camera while it sits on my drawing table.

I took this one under a little better lighting conditions.  I'm about 1/3 of the way done on the coloring. I have to work from the top left down to the bottom right so that I don't smear the colored pencil.  It has a wax base so it will melt and make quite a mess if I lay my hand across it too long.  I always like to see how the coloring really brings the image to life.

I feel bad that it's taking me so long to get this one done, but I feel good about how it's turning out. What do you think?