I tried to segment the edge of the helmet past which the face would be visible, does that actually read like segmentation or like noise?

A couple more, experimented a bit with hatching in the first one, but the results are kinda meh.

colours used:
Spoiler

first:
 Old Burgundy   
 Old Gold
 Old Heliotrope
 Old Lace
 Old Lavender
 Old Mauve
 Old Moss Green
 Old Rose

second:
 Cerulean Frost
 CG Blue
 CG Red   
 Chamoisee   
 Champagne
 Charcoal
 Charleston Green
 Charm Pink

This is good.

See how some of them are facing straight ahead and some are sort of glancing at an angle?

Deciding between profiled faces and angled faces always feels like an imperfect compromise. Profile makes the most logical sense (characters about to fight would look straight at each other) but I like angled heads better, both as the artist and the viewer.

If I'm honest, I actually prefer a mix of the two, as in Demon's Crest up there ^. But if I'm going to use both, I'll need a way to decide which style to use for which character, and therein lies the rub. I can't come up with a criteria for deciding between the two styles. And I really dislike when animators use both styles in the same animation where it isn't called for, which makes it look almost as if the character's dancing or has palsy.

Thoughts on the matter?

Oh dude, you're telling me. Guess how long the hands of the guy on the right took me. They still lack contrast.

With snow yeah, it will still be mostly white. The idea is to deepen cracks and crevasses.

Did it take much tweakin to get those branches looking convincing? Single pixel details are, like, the hardest thing about this medium, in my opinion.

I'd like to see you play with more dramatic contrast. Might be interesting given the style, as I'm not sure how it would look.