Four months of practice

Below are two pictures drawn from the same reference photo, four months apart.
Note the subtle differences - the detail that for some reason I didn't 'see' the first time I drew: the intricacies of the iris, the veins and skin tones. Even the shape of the eye is different in the two pictures.
The second eye jumps off the page, and looks a whole lot more three dimensional than the first.

By the time I drew the second eye, I had purchased some better quality paper. I think that makes a big difference.

I use Arches 300 hot press watercolour paper. Since then I've gotten a few more types to experiment with, but when drawing pictures for others I know I can rely on Arches.