Thanks so much! Haha, if my backgrounds make you jealous, you must not have seen Lily's. Her work tends to influence mine, and may well be the driving force behind my improvement in background-painting over time.
Trust me, I've browsed her dA gallery many times before and I can totally see how she inspires your work. She's one of many inspirations to me, that's for sure. Just don't let her influence you
too much. I always say that it's better to learn from another artist than to idolize them, because I've made that mistake way too many times in the past.
On the people sketches, that was exactly the reason I did them - to practice making a myriad of them and honing a style at the same time. I think it's really tough to vary female faces, though, unless you make them old and haggard. Variety seems to come much easier to male faces, perhaps because one doesn't have to try and make them male as much as one has to try and make a female face look female.
I agree, it is a lot more difficult to vary female faces. But unfortunately that's one reason why I find them easier to draw. Men always seem to require more... definition? in certain places, whereas with women I'm able to keep my lines soft and curvy. Age does play a big role in it though, but maybe that's why I keep coming up with female characters in their late teens/early twenties. :/
The key to making different faces is remembering that for everything on the face - nose, eyes, chin, hairline, ears, etc. - there are countless ways in which each part can be shaped and countless proportions that can be employed, and all of them come together to form a character. Hair, facial hair, and tidbits like scars, tattoos, or piercings are just icing on the cake for that extra pop, but they can also tell even more about your character.
I'll have to keep that in mind. I should practice them like you did and maybe sit and think about the character I'm trying to flesh out. Like I said, I don't usually give it much thought but that's something I'd like to work on.