As Dylan suggested, I started with a bit of research and a word web. 

Stephanie comes from the Greek Στέφανος (Stephanos). From Wikipedia:

Stephanos or Stefanos, in Greek Στέφανος, is a masculine given name derived from the Greek word στέφανος (stéphanos), meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", from the verb στέφειν (stéphein), "to encircle, to wreathe". 

Also, Stephen (Stephanos in Greek) was the first Christian Martyr.

Using the word web, the main visual symbols I pulled out from that were:

• circles - the thematic shape (shown in several of the following points)
• laurel wreath - given to contest winners in Ancient Greece
• crown braid - in a sort of Ancient Greek hairstyle (a more subtle nod to the "crown" reference of my name)
• halo - to symbolize the saint Stephen
• figure in a toga - the classic Ancient Greek look, giving clear nod to the origin of the name

For the text, I wanted to include both my name (in a Greek style font) and the original Greek name. 

Drawing illustrated figures is not something I'm very well-practiced in, so this was a good, focused opportunity to work on that. I definitely still have a ways to go to find a style I feel is mine in that regard, but I definitely feel like I made some progress with that in this project. 

I sneaked in a bit of "stitching" around the halo since I like any sort of textile craft :) Was really fun to play with colours and try out various backgrounds and how that changed the whole look of the illustration.

 

Took a bit to get the hang of texturizing. Definitely went in way too heavy at first as I was new to playing around with the brushes and had to scale it back quite a bit. I like the sort of worn look that texturing gives, which I think suits the "Ancient Greek" theme of the illustration. Overall really happy with how this turned out!

It's been several years since I've used Photoshop and this was a great class to dive back in. I am so happy with how much Dylan covered in this class with the various aspects of the project. She takes students step-by-step through the process in a really manageable way. I really feel like I can start digitizing a bunch of drawings from my sketchbook now, and I'm looking forward to playing around with them!