I would love to help you, but being unable myself to do things at such a level, that would be irresponsible from me ... what I see is balanced and well shaded. the character is great.

a good start so far - i'd perhapy try to do his face less refective...
and perhaps add some different colors - e.g. some red tones - untill now you just have those brown and grey... could give some more "life" to it...

Quite nice! It remnds me of characters in Storm Riders.

keep going in the direction you are going.. this is really awesome what you have so far.. i like the reflective look on the face.. it gives it a realistic look... i want to see this finished!! awesome!!

It looks wonderful! Keep going like you are, you have no need of our help, you're doing a beautiful job all on your own!

I think the sheen on his face is perfect. What a great character. This is excellent. Beautiful work. Wish I could draw!!!

The original sketch itself is wonderful. I think your on the right track with the shading too it looks great.

Critiques..??? On what ???I think its going to look awsome when it's ready (well it already looks fantastic...)like the reflections on his face !!! WELL DONE !! V

This looks killer so far. Your tones etc. are right on. Cool character as well, i can see story in this.

Really nice. :) What I'd like to say, is similar to cbender's suggestion - play around with colors a bit more. Right now, each element of the picture is of its own color, with varying lightness. It would make him look even more lively, if things had more colors in them, esp. in shadows, etc. Maybe try using the warm colors to bring areas forward, and cool colors to send them into the background - that usually has very nice effect. Also his cape is perfectly gray - I'd absolutely love to see some play of color there, otherwise it gets itsy bitsy flat, on the background of the relatively saturated hues everywhere else. My two cents. :)

Very. Very cool. Must see the finished with color.

Well his feet seem huge in relation to the rest of his body, and the shoes appear anachronistic - but it's hard to tell yet if this is a medeival piece or possibly futuristic. Aside from that, I think the character is cool, and the coloring done thus far is brilliant. :)

Keep the reflections on the head, it fits the style of the overall image. The reflection fives the head a little "ooomph". Makes him dynamic. The overall design of the character is good, and a good pose as well. Maybe you can add some attributes (some belts or something) which gives him even more character. The lower part of the image doesn't look as kick ass as the upper part (has to do with the coloring, but his skirt just looks pretty generic) I would lose the bird though... in some way it looks funny, but I find it quite distracting. The hair of the guy kinda goes up, while his beard doesn't...

Really gorgeous so far. No problems with it here. Just that.. I wish I could do that. :D

Awesome so far. I love to see this finnished. Excellent work!

If you keep the bird, you need to have it mirror the hair. Also, the boots are the weakest part of the render.

A sword would add great power and threat to the character.. maybe hidden in the staff, showing alittle between the part the bird sits on and the rest of the staff. Just a thought. I agree about the boots. Really great work so far.

From the looks of it, it's we who should be seeking Your critiques. This is some of the finest work I've seen on this site! There are plenty of people who wish they could do a 10th of what your demonstrating here! Great job!