Unluck: Looking good, but it's too consistently bright I think. I think I'd go with darkening the leaves and keeping the stem light (though you could do the opposite). That will create a nice balance between the darker elements and the lighter ones. Also, maybe try darkening the edge where the lips and body meet to give…
In Maya, smoothing groups are done through the menu at the top. Select the edges you want to smooth and then go to 'Normals > Harden Edge' or "Normals > Soften Edge', depending on what you want to do. For self illumination, select the material you want and in the Attribute Editor turn up the 'Ambient Color' value. I…