At arm's length: a brave little adventurer. Under the phone camera: a man made entirely of brush mistakes.

I am pleased with it anyway. Picked three colours, tried to keep the obvious edges tidy, and stopped before I stripped the whole thing and started again. The eyes are currently an artistic suggestion.

People who paint: do you keep your first one untouched or go back and improve it? I am torn between wanting it nicer and wanting a reminder of where I started.

Keep it. Put it next to whatever you paint after a few months. Progress is easier to see when you have not erased the starting point.

I repainted mine. No regrets. The reminder was not doing anything for me and I wanted to use the model.

Both answers are annoyingly reasonable.

Paint a second one badly enough that the first looks good. This is why nobody asks me for hobby advice.

Keeping this one for now. I can always repaint later, but I cannot un-repaint it. The artistic suggestion eyes may become his whole personality.