well, i can see how the not-so-verbose can post nothing more than 'oooh-aaaah', but im really starting to get a bit tired of those posts personally.. .not that everything has to be scrutinized to death, but i think that someone could point out that 'sparkliness' does not have to be a direct result of a little twinkle animation... in fact, despite really liking the design of things, all the sparklies really make it too confusing to look at if you ask me. When i think of 'sparklies' like that, i think one of two things.
A. final fantasy 6 heal spell,
B. a gem/jewel/high class diamond shimmering in some light, (and even then they would be done for either comical effect or through movement of the item, refracting the light in a brief instant in a manner that might catch the 'camera's eye).
so if you have some of those studded metal pieces that are round (and would probably look really nice as rubies or diamonds or something) then i think the flashie effect would work really well there.
otherwise, i think you should be defining these high reflection areas with ample contrast only. the chest plate grate thing and the little loop of metal around the waist is a great use of this without the sparklies. As for the leafy things, perhaps on the outskirts of the heavy outlines, you could have some ambient reflections near the edges , much like you have done (very nicely) on osmi's head? id also think it would work appropriately around the outside edge of the gold trimming on the shield, to really give it that shine. perhaps you could introduce one more bright yellow color that would segue the white reflection in the gold into the next darkest (and quite literal) 'gold' tone you have established, i think in some of the smoother areas that might look quite nice to AA the highlights (sans sparklies) to the rest of the gold tones.
i really do like the shield effect, looks nice and glass-like. the creative design in the entire piece is really quite fun and interesting, and id defiinitely recognize it as you as soon as i saw it.
oh, one last thing... while as a whole this is a really nice image... i cant get over how muddled and neglected the head-piece looks in comparison to the rest of the gold and the octopus guy...
perhaps the red is too dark and i htink that black outline in there is killing its continuity. that fluff needs to look brighter perhaps?
anyhow i thought it would be nice to give some real comments on your piece, i hope you dont mind, im just a little tired of the 'whoazQQ!!!1' kindof posts around here (casts hard eyes around) <_< >_> <_<.
