So I started by picking a reference photo that I liked and then I copied the image onto watercolor paper as a practice for working with gouache and it turned out like this. Gouache was harder to work with than I thought it would be and dried faster than I was expecting. I was doing the layering wrong just generally did not like the colors so I decided to use a different method of transferring a printed out image where you can outline the values and make an exact copy of the image. I also decided that since my paper is so large I wanted to do more than one face and found more reference photos, printed them in black and white, put graphite on the back, cut them out and arranged them on the paper how I wanted.
Next I am going to trace the outlines of the images and since the graphite is on the back, the lines I make will show up on the paper. I just printed the images in black and white so I could see the different values more clearly and outline them, but I am planning on using the original color photos for when I start painting.