So Long, Sanchez.

UPDATE 4 (and 5, 6, and 7): FINISHED! I've been busting my butt to get this piece done and out the door this whole weekend, and after many hours at the coffee shop, and into the dead of night, my toil has finally come to fruition.
Thank you everyone so much for your suggestions and comments, and for helping come up with names! It's been a real ride, and I'll definitely consider doing one of my more finished pieces this way, as a WIP. You guys are great.
Now, I'm off to work on my art book.


UPDATE 3: I spent the whole of last night working on her face, I want this painting to be about expression, so it requires careful tweaking. You wouldn't believe how absolutely subtle deviations in the wrinkles of her forehead change her look, from pensive to worried to perturbed. It's really amazing. There's a book about painting human expression called "The Artist's Complete Guide To Facial Expression" by Gary Faigin. It's so worth it to understand the subtleties that go into making a person look sad or angry, or happy.
I finished her hair on the right side, but it looks weird over the side of the helmet, which is reflecting a similar color. Perhaps I'll end up desaturating it a bit more to give it some contrast. Still gotta fix the back nuke, but we're totally getting there. If I can get any painting time in tonight or tomorrow, I should be about done.
Thanks for following my progress everyone. I really appreciate it.

UPDATE 2: After spending the weekend on this image, I have made great progress. Many people still could not recognize the nuke reflection in her helmet, so I looked at many many (many) references and painted one similar. I've done quite a bit of work on her face, hopefully making her more beautiful. At this stage, all that's left to do is a few minor tweaks and polishing, her hair, smooth and lightly texture her skin, etc. And choose a name. Thanks everyone for your suggestions, there have been some real gems. You guys are great.

UPDATE: I repainted the helmet reflection, please let me know if you can see the nuke in there! Most of the people I showed it to didn't realize it was a nuke, which was supposed to be the key point of the pic. I still have lots of polishing to do, but this is an important step, so I thought I'd upload it.

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This is a Work In Progress! Obviously I haven't finished her hair, or totally beautified her yet, but it's coming! Hopefully tonight! Let me know your thoughts, suggestions, etc!

I'm super stoked about this pic, been wanting to paint it for a long time. It's my first after a pretty long dry spell after my life went through a massive upheaval, and man is it cathartic!! Credit goes to MJRanum for his beautiful stock which was the inspiration for this piece.

Please help me think of a name!