>>1865917Okay I think I see what's going on. First off, the quality of the picture is trash, honestly I would use another one. Bad pictures make for vague and confusing lines.
Also you're trying to do the shading in Shiro's hair, which is complicated enough but this pic is horrendous and it's your first time. My advice is to just use the gradient tool on the entirety of her hair instead of trying to replicate individual shades (this may deviate from the original but your job is to make it look good).
It seems you're doing things out of order when it comes to tracing. Illustrator functions off of the most recent shape, where your most recent shape will take layer priority over those made earlier. Thus, when it comes to any section where the borders of colors clash, you only need to draw one border instead of two. This eliminates color gaps and incongruities you'll find in yours. Note my picture, I drew this in an order from bottom to top. Analyze your picture and figure out what to do first.
Lastly, use less nodes and more curves, i.e. use more curves instead of corners, even if the picture looks like it should end in a point. It may have looked fine in the picture but it will look jagged and unnatural in minimalism. Try to curve them out.
Just an opinion, but eyes suck. Don't do them. These up-close face shots never work for minimalist style.
