asganafer: beautiful work on that
have to say this, though: i compared the picture in the photoshop tutorial and this one and there are lots of little details that actually look very different in this - i like your version better, but that's because of my personal style preferences, i'm sure a die hard photoshopper wouldn't agree with me. i really like it when photoshop snobs get to eat humble pie, but i'm not sure this is the way to make them. to get the same effects of texture, of reflection and shading, i think we'd work in very different ways, using very different methods than the photoshoppers.
and i really don't mean to talk down your work, asganafer, you've done brilliantly and as i said before i prefer your version - it's just my honest opinion that it wouldn't impress a photoshop snob.