This portrait of Lily Collins I did a while back took a longer time than I expected. 3 hours a day but in a span of two weeks. Supposedly a portrait like this shouldn't take too long for me because there isn't much conturing. Note the amount of unshaded white parts on most of her face.
While learning and refining my drawing skills I find male portraits easier to do than female portraits. Of course, that depends on the artist themselves. Some might find female portraits easier to draw than male ones. Here's my opinion:
Many male portraits have a certain ruggedness to them. Creases, wrinkles, facial hair, the occasional scar, even the furrow between the eyebrows when frowning. These details help mask any imperfections on the portrait. Take for example, the portrait of Chris John Millington I posted recently. When I completed it I realized that the nose-to-lip proportions weren't like what I hoped, in fact they were a little too far apart. The facial, I also realized at that moment hair actually helped mask that mistake.
This portrait of Lily Collins is a good example of what I feel about most female portraits. They have a feminine softness to them that a male portrait lacks. The lack of wrinkles and creases actually make it harder to mask any imperfections. Thus I take extra care to make sure I got the proportions as precise as possible during the initial outlining process. I can still see those little faults when I look back at this work, but overall I'm quite satisfied with it.