I had asked Yvette if she wanted my two cents on a recent posting of hers, and she said yes, so don't yell at me for picking apart someone's work without their permission

I really like this piece overall! It has a light, airy quality to it, very good plane separation, and works well with her Yvette's overall style. I have to say, one thing I really appreciate about Yvette's work is her consistant style - she definitely has her own 'voice'.

I only really have one concern with this piece, but it did really jump out at me. Probably because it is the only thing that could be tweaked, really.

This shadow on the collarbone (that I've circled here). It's almost as dark and prominent as the shadow underneath the character's jawline.

Because the head/jawline is blocking the most light, it should have a much more prominent shadow than anything else around it. Really, the shadow of the collarbone (and, to a lesser extent, the tendons on the neck) should be minimized. It isn't that they are wrong (they do look appropriate and cool), they are just too dark and prominent, drawing the eye toward them and away from the face.

Now, of secondary concern is the circled highlight on the shoulder.

The primary light source seems to be coming from above the character, yet there is a pretty definite bright spot on the bottom of the shoulder muscle here. Now, a lot of light will be reflected back up from the water, but if that were really the case, then there would be more indications of it on the figure closer to the water (resulting in similar bright spots under the bicep, for example).

Rather than adding extra bright spots, however, I think the solution is to simply scale back how bright that spot on the shoulder is, making it brighter on the top of the shoulder and less prominent on the lower portion.

GOOD POINT!!!! I should check the file to see if I can lessen the shadow!

Really, that's it. This is a fantastic picture (I'm really loving the mist effects as well), and definitely want to see more like it! I hope this has been some use to Yvette and everyone else.

Please feel free to make comments, point out flaws in my logic, or otherwise tear me a new one

I will admit this willingly and shamelessly...I suck at shading...LoL...

No. No you don't. Don't say that again.

LoL. I really am not great with shading, in terms of knowing the light source and shading consistent to it.
I remember when I was in school like 3 years ago, we had to draw a bunch of random shapes on a sheet of paper. Later in the semester, the professor had us take the same drawing, but make the shapes three dimensional and shade the items accurate to the light source. I spent the three hours in class freaking out. I completed half of the assignment.

I would also like to point out that anybody that uses Gir for their avatar must be cool

Well...shyeah...of course I'm cool. My coolness has never been in question. LoL