Hi Rick
Like you I'm a novice bust painter (to date I've only painted 4)
I approached them, as you say, in exactly the same way as a full figure. You can have a lot more fun with textures on the clothing and the eye's become very important, but are straightforward if you take your time with them. I found you need less contrast that you would normally add to a smaller figure and adding a touch of glaze medium (in acrylics) can help slow the drying time a bit, but other than that the world is your mollusc as they say.
Looks like a nice bust to start with and I look forward to seeing how you get on

Paul

Are you using oils or acrylics? Id certainly recommend a wet palette for acrylics.

Nap uses retarder occasionally I believe. I've found that the Vallejo glaze medium slows the drying time down enough for me to do some wet in wet work. It's also really handy if you are doing something tricky such as catchlights on an eye. Dip the end of the brush in the glaze medium and mix it with the white and then reload the brush as normal then when you paint the catchlight if it's in the wrong place you can use a clean damp brush to 'rub it out' and try again

Cheers
Paul

I'm taken by that Puppeteer bust too Rick. I'd probably make a hash of it, but it is rather special.

Phil

We gotta go for it Rick