Thanks a lot for the info guys, definitely some solid stuff to keep in mind. I did have some color variance in a few places as you said (blueish tint around beard, yellow forehead, red nose, redder joints, etc.) but I usually drop my layers where I add that stuff to an insanely low value. Maybe it turned out a little too…
I'd say that isn't the way you're supposed to paint skin tones, in the diffuse or spec. There's supposed to be way more tonal variances. Nose should be more red. There needs to be some blue under the eyes, the guy should have more grey in the area of the 5 o' clock shadow. There needs to be way more vericose veins, and…