3D artwork: Pin up style render

I have started a new project to keep myself busy with improving my 3D skills. The project which I have chosen to undergo is to try and create a pin up style 3D render. Below are some references images that I will using as guides to help me create my pin up style render

Image created by serge birault

Image created by Wanchana Instrasombat

(Stage one) I have started modelling the head of the character in Maya while using several different reference materials from Google. At an early stage I did bring the mesh into Zbrush for manipulating and shaping the vertices around the eyes, I could have used Maya soft selection tool to push and pull the verts around but I personally find it much easier using zbrush for that and I will also be planning on using Zbrush for the characters blend shapes. Below is the early stage the head modelling process. While modelling I have been using a sub-d proxy tool in order to check the sub-d of the head

(Stage 2) At this stage the head mesh is complete and ready for importing in to Zbrush, while modelling i gave allot of attention to the topology of the mesh. I had to make sure everything was in a unified quad and that the edges had enough space between them. Below is a image of the complete head both wireframe and and standard view.

(Stage 3) Now that the model has been imported into Zbrush, it is time to increase the polygon of the model which would allow me to create some very nice details. It is very important at this stage to also look at various different images of facial expressions as I would be looking at creating the blend shapes within Zbrush. Below is a early start of creating some facials expressions but nothing is final yet

(Stage 4) After finishing up on the facial expressions in Zbrush, I took the mesh back into Maya for the initial lighting set up. Below here is a quick render of a work in progress lighting setup.

(Stage 5)With all the lights set up I did a quick render in mental ray so i could get an idea on how i would like the make up to look like. Below is a quick paint over