So, uh... As I had mentioned in the replies to my first post here, I had wanted to begin with the simplistic style first, both for the purposes of the intended drawing itself, and because I believed it would be the best way to ease my way back into drawing after about 2 years of being unable to. However, I've never really drawn in the simplistic style I was thinking of (basically chibi), so I quickly found that the mental hurdle of starting off with that was insurmountable, leading to several days of just sitting at a desk with blank paper, holding a pencil that would never touch said paper.
Thus, I decided that it would be best to start with a more-or-less quick sketch of something in a style I was more familiar with, just to get past the first hurdle of actually making markings with said pencil. Here is the product of that decision (trigger warning: this picture depicts a face with a hole in it that goes all the way through the cheek and shows teeth). Even without shading, and with the absolute minimum of lines just to show the flow and texture of the hair, it's a lot more detailed and realistic than the chibi drawing I was hoping to start out with.
I'm still struggling with the mental hudle of stepping out of my "comfort zone" and drawing in a new and entirely different style, so I was hoping that people might have some advice on overcoming that, as well as any other advice that might help me.
Thank you for any help provided!