i'm trying to distance myself from photorealism a little more, and ditch the clean gradient shading for a more cell-shaded look.

this re-render turned out more complex than i intended, due to the multiple lighting... but i'm fond of the result.

does this happy accident convey enough anime/toon vibe?

-jon

Very nice, but for some reason the skin seems very metallic. Maybe if there were fewer lights/light steps on her skin it might not look that way.

Jon,
As was said... very nice.

If adding blur wouldn't cause a loss of detail you might try that.
I agree the look of reflection is a little overpowering but overall I think you are on to something.

Having had a chance to see these characters up close (via the Extra CD Project) I'm glad to see you are pressing forward with them.

Rodney

turns out that i had 'shadows' turned on, and they seemed to suck up the green light, not obscure it. (this is still am 8.5, so there won't be any bug reports:)

i'm using a three-tone toon shader, but i did darken the lowlites a bit, and sharpen up the transitions. i really do like the metallic effect, but it's not really appropriate here.

the less busy version below seems closer to the mark... thanks for the feedback, gents!

-jon

thanks for the kind words!

i don't think i'll ever model stylistically, but i hope to at least capture some of the cartoon magic in the render process.

-jon