Hey Gary,
Interesting technique. I REALLY love the face on this figure. He really looks weary. Excellent!
I have one small critique though. That pic of your buddy in the tunic is an excellent reference. It always pays to have something like this at hand when sculpting clothing, especially when the pose is unusual and does unexpected things to the clothing, as here. The thing I have noticed that you did not quite get in your sculpted piece is the role that gravity plays in the way the coat is hanging from his upraised arm.
In the 3/4 view pic of your finished coat piece, it seems to be angling away from his body at about 20 degrees or so off of vertical. If you look again at your reference pic, you will see that the one big furrow (fold) that hangs lowest on the coat front hangs straight up and down. It also comes quite close to his body at this point. This dead vertical fold is important to represent the "weight" of the coat. Otherwise it looks like the thing is floating a bit.
The easy fix for this would be to add some putty to the back of the coat "skirt" at this point to build this area closer to his body. Once this is hardened it is then an easy matter to carve out more material from the front to get that furrow closer to his body. I find I have to make these kind of minor adjustments all the time, so have vast experience at dealing with them!
I look forward to seeing this piece finished. The face and pose are really awesome and the finished piece will certainly come across as such......!
Mike
