Simple variation exercise

Lately when I do art for myself it's with traditional media. Watercolor, gouache, pen and ink or pencil.
I like having a finished piece of art to look at and hold. It's a nice feeling of accomplishment.
Most of my client work ends up being digital, even if it starts out being drawn traditionally.
So I have been trying to figure out a "style" to call my own when doing digital art for myself that wil hopefully appeal to future clients.
With that in mind, I was flipping through my sketchbook yesterday and found a really rough sketch of a head.
When it comes to digital work I prefer Illustrator over Photoshop. I like creating flat/graphic areas of color over trying to make the figure/object look 3 dimensional.
So I drew up the head in Illustrator and played around with variations of it.
Here it is...

The 4 on the left are just changes in facial features and their positions.
The others are the Base 1 head with variations of facial hair and accessories.
After doing the pirate guy my daughter wanted to see him with a beard so I came u with this version...

I like the way he's looking so I'll be figuring out what kind of body to give him and put him in a simple setting.
Next she wants  to see a girl pirate, so I'll post her in the future.

I just realized I need to change the color of his eyebrows to blue.
He's looking kind of like an elf with the big ears so I'll have to experiment with the idea of elfin pirates.

So if you ever find yourself stuck or bored when you are sketching, draw out several simple circles or ovals or whatever and just see what you can make out of them.
This is an experiment I recommend to everyone. It can stimulate your creativity and lead you to new ideas for your art.