that's such an interesting idea and well made :D

Dig this. Its like a quartz porcupine or something. Cool creature.

Hey, that's looking much better! The noticeable banding vanished with that update. :) This tutorial gives a good explanation of banding: http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299&PID=139322#139322

Like this, for example?
I may be seemed a bit uneducated, but what did you mean by "banding"?

Really love the character design. Seems to be a little banding on the crystals, which could maybe benefit from a little more specular, perhaps light lines instead of darker at the top of the crystals? Colors are pretty nice, too. :)

Thats a pretty cool little character, it's a pitty that you have to use the blue, I think a different colour would would suit better for design purposes .