Way to take risks -- always great to see people willing to challenge themselves.
First, lemme say, great processing on the skin.
Now, I hope that this is constructive:
* The textured background here is a bit distracting.
* I understand why it might be desired to obscure the face; however, the top portion of the photo is much too dark. Perhaps you could do something (with some light set up or in Photoshop) where the background catches some light, while the face remains in shadows.
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By the way, your pics of Jewel are great. I specially like how you've used him/her as a prop here:
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