Oh, and I know my first palette was dull, I didn't intend for it to be the final color scheme anyway - I should've mentioned that.
Holy shit you didn't have to go and make it GOLD SKELETON, though! Unless... you want it gold, I guess.
Haha, I was thinking more of a yellowed, sandy skeleton, but as I added contrast and saturation (you guys are always on about contrast and saturation!) it did get really golden. I don't find the idea of a solid gold skeleton terribly abhorrent either, but if nobody likes it I guess I should change it.
Arne, holy crap, that illustration is beautiful and is really the shape I was going for. I'll have to remember about the reflecting colors saturating each other.
EyeCraft, that is a neat way to approach the ribcage which I wasn't even considering. I think it gets lost in the background here but I like the design.
Sherman, while the cleaver was kind of an afterthought, your edit is fantastic. The highlight on the tip adds the most, I really need to focus more on lighting.
Actually I may shelve this guy for a while to work on something bigger, but thanks a lot for all your comments and critiques thus far.