Deuce

Looking good! I don't think the branches are too large at all. They would simply be the main branches from the trunk which can be pretty big on some trees. A sufficiently aged dead tree would most likely have lost most or all of it's smaller branches, anyway. The only things I could think for possible improvement would be maybe some nubs where sub-branches had once been and maybe make the ends look more broken, rather than tapering into fat points. Not that I wouldn't be happy to play with your tree as-is on my table. It certainly looks better than any I've ever done. What's the thicker wire you use in building the armature?

That webcaster looks like it would make cobwebs far too large for the purpose. For the record, when I mentioned cobwebs being impractical, I was referring to them getting in the way of play. If it was just a model for display, it would be one thing, but I have to imagine they would be difficult to play around.

That's pretty awesome!

Sculpy, maybe...?

Unfortunately, I don't think cobwebs would be practical.

Fantastic

The trick with a hobby knife is to scrape, not cut. Keep the blade perpendicular to the surface, or even angled a little backward to the direction of movement, and use very little pressure. It takes time because it'll take off very little at a time, but that's to the good when you're not yet comfortable with it. As you get more comfortable, you'll just naturally move into more direct techniques. Oh, yeah, and very nice job. I've seen people that have painted for years do worse.

Much kudos! I'll add my vote that that is a very smooth paint job, and the eyes are killer. Some of it may be from the way you lit for the shot, but it sure looks like you did an excellent job accomplishing your goal of shading to show a lighting scheme from the right (his left). That base is sweet, too. I assume the pipes were actual pipe, based on the curve, but it's the stonework I'm really impressed with.

Do you happen to have any links to these discussions of alternate flesh palettes? Those look really nice and I don't know if I'm brave enough to try, but I'd surely like to see a bit more info.

http://www.terragenesis.co.uk/

I've never tried it, but I've often considered gluing some bird shot into the bottom. Should be fairly heavy for the amount of space available and adapts to any size base. Wouldn't recommend it for anyone with kids, though. Maybe if you covered it with a very thick layer of glue/epoxy.