Thanks @lotet! You brought up a good point. I probably got a little carried away with getting some of the values to read (and not factoring in much of a lighting setup until now). Here's how the unlit diffuse looks on the model. Here's the diffuse texture for the skin and hair. Here's the same for the gear and clothing.…
@lotet: thanks for the paintover! That'll help me out a ton with this. I tried to create some color zones in the face early on but judging by my current diffuse map I made them way too transparent, because I've lost them entirely. It's great to hear tips on making stylized textures (and texturing in general) and I'll make…
The second lighting set up is looking really nice! the shapes are really popping and the hair is looking much better as well. could you post a screenshot of your Diffuse texture only? I get the feeling you have a little bit to much baked lighting going on, especially in the skin.