This very well drawn with honor to a musical legend.

Stippling. . .

Is badass! One of my all-time favorite techniques (on paper). I had never thought to do a digital-esque type, so inspiration was acquired from your piece and I thank you. As for the whole minimizing photoshop problem you are having, you can always save the picture to disk, and open it in a new window in PS, or even print it out to reference from. Although the way you did it is probably a lot better practice.

Anyways onto the actual piece. I really enjoy the colors that you chose for Ray's scheme. Very moody and emotional, with good contrast. His expression is really great, and you got really detailed with the wrinkles, which I think make it that much more realistic! A very nice work, especially for an hour, very impressive!

Only problem I have with it is the excessive space on the left, but it could just be the look you were going for. I definitely want to see some more stuff in this style!