Even though I was pleased when I first posted this pic I kept looking at it thinking I could do better so I re-did the lines a little thinner and neater and experimented with a few different ways of shading him (rather than just using the lighten/darken brush).
Here's how he looks now:
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...z/retsumk2.jpg
I think it's a fair improvement over the original, what do you think better/worse/about the same?
Ok I think this is best of the ones I've posted so far, so I hope you like it.
Retsu blade is one of my brothers charters, I've drawn him slightly less cartoony than the others and I decided to give him a proper background this time (I think need to work on drawing backgrounds a bit though).
(very) rough sketch:
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...gazz/retsu.jpg
Finished artwork:
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...retsublade.jpg