Usually yeah, for scratches I usually contrast the hell out of a fitting photo the just clone stamp in screen mode into a layer mask for a bare metal layer. I also painted some faint white/black smudges near/onto the edges with low opacity soft brush.
It's never too late to ask for feedback, pay him no mind Nomad. I really like the rocks in that first image, but in comparison the others look very soft and blobby. You should try and get that same hard edge rocky look from those first rocks into the others.
I disagree, the variation of colour in the current revision is a lot easier to look at imo. A bit punchier, I think. What's going on with the trigger guard, though? It appears to be a tad wavy. That could work, buuut I think you may need to make those edges less soft.
personally i'd ditch the lighting you've added manually, rely on the in-game lighting for that, also it limits the placement of this texture. everything in general looks very soft. as always, check this tute for some texturing tips: http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/photoshop/how-to-hand-paint-convincing-metal-textures/
Getting better already! Yeah, on the breast you're making up a muscle/form that isn't there. You have a harsh line where the fatty bit of the breast sits on top of the pec, but it's a much softer transition, not really noticable. Under the skin it blends into this one soft form. Keep it up!
I like it, but it can be improved. I gonna suggest: Reduce the specular, try a different shader, put him in a gorilla pose and add some loose hair in some special spots like this image: Maybe soft the normal map for the hair, but it depends of what shader you are using. ;)
Looks like some type of sorting error, try the blend masked or blend soft masked modes for the material. Another possibility would be to make the object a multi sub material, where you apply a translucent shader only to the parts that need it and the rest would be a regular opaque material.
heya, interesting concept man, any perspective renders? I'm not sure what pectorals should feel like, the texture with the hard cut ins make it feel hard but on the other hand the sculpt seems to suggest its a soft mass. I hope I'm making sense here.
Thanks for the links Two Listen. I'm aware that everything is soft, I'm just doing quick little sketches to get back in practice and learning Photoshop tools. There isn't supposed to be anything near finished yet, as my skill level precludes doing high quality work at this time.
I reckon if you spent more time figuring out bone structure for the cheekbones/higher for the 1st head, it'd be 101 levels of awesome rather than a paultry 100 The metallic segments of the alien head also seem really soft. Eitherway it's sexy work, welcome to the boards :]