Omegan's Domain - Reference photo: yes. Pixel art: No.

onilink_ - I've used both methods: Tracing/drawing everything "on top" of a photo, and drawing from scratch, but now I use a mix of both methods just because it's faster.

A rough outline (Head shape, general shading, and placement of facial features) are directly copied from a photo. The finer details, which get lost when the canvas size is so small (like eyes, line work, hair strands, and smooth shading) are all redrawn.

No AI pixelart or photo-2-pixels AI were used.

Stooj - Thanks for following my game, and thanks for your comment.

digitalCoffin - Thankyou!

Mathias - Thankyou for your feedback. Always appreciated.

Irenaart - I've added a progress gif. I could not comment until today due to low score.