hi all
@nenaca, thank you. still making changes all the time, made the black more black and have added some reflection to image. trying to get as close as possible to ref image, but skills will allow only so much 
updated image, going to bed now, eyes have gone square.
shaun
I would go for a slightly more saturated red and a more intense bump map. maybe add a musgrave texture to create some discolouration. I would also add some variation to the cloth materials so that each layer of clothing looks like it’s made from a different fabric.
this is coming along very nicely. can’t wait to see the final product.
hi all
@whoswho, thanks for comments, have changed the red and color should be spot on now. was already planning to change the cloth materials to something closer and different, these have been done now.
@antorious, thank you so much, me too as i said in an earlier post, my eyes have gone square. :spin:
this is about as far as i can go with this, cannot seem to make it any better, i am not happy with the way the eyes turned out and i spent a lot of time on them. the only thing i have left to do on them is some of the pink skin under the eye, not sure what it is called.
shaun
Great job on this! Some quick suggestions to push this further: put some bump on the skin textures to break up the specularity (see ray parks’ forehead in your ref photo). Also, your eyes are really spot on but if you change the light source so that the angle casts the eyes into a bit of shadow beneath the brow, it may match your ref better and give the image more realism. Fantastic job tho.
Now he’s way too just glossy and could really use a stronger bump map to break up the specularity. Try getting the same look as in post #5 (sweaty and oily)
I’d go with the suggestions about the bump mapping. specially in the black tattoo area. it’s a lil too smooth with no skin pores
The nose, the left cheek (on the right side of the picture though) and the mouth look very good for sweaty and oily, since the specularity is sharper, but the right cheek (left side of the picture) and the forehead still look rather dry. Maybe sharpen the specularity of it and add more bump to break up the specularity some more.
You’re getting closer and closer each time I have look, Shaun.
Really good. But there are tings left to do in the areas of shading, composition and lighting.
For the tattoo shader I’d try to reduce the saturation of the black color. And if you have that texture still on a different layer in your paint program you could apply a tiny blur only to the black tattoos. To control the specularity you could paint a spec map, which concentrates on his forehead, the nose, the lips and the cheeks right below the eyes. This map can be used to control where the skin/tattoo shader shows its glossiness. The cloth could use a bit less bump and a different and slightly lighter color for the falloff. That makes clothing more real.
Your camera angle differs slightly from the original image. In the original image he is hiding himself more in his cape and he is not facing the viewer as directly as he does in your image. Nevertheless his eyes are completely focused on the viewer. These elements are important parts of the original composition.
And my last point would be the lighting. I see that you’ve already picked up the blue color which is in the original image. But you need darker shadows. See how the inner side of his cape is almost completely hidden in dark shadows. And you could try to make one of the lights you are using stronger than the others. Turn the others down and you will have a key light. At the moment your image is lit too evenly.
Just my thoughts and opinions. But you do a really good job here 
