Thanks, everyone.
SaintToad, yeah, that's what I've been attempting to do. It's definitely been something that has developed over time and a whole lot of figures. For a very long time I was just concerned with getting decent highlights and shadows. But, now that I've at least got a handle on that (never quite perfect, but good enough), I'm starting to pay more attention to texture and reflectiveness of the surface. Ideally the lights/shadows will look differently on cloth or skin or leather. That's definitely something that I've recently been trying to achieve on my pieces.
For the jewelers vice, I normally use one that has a handle. I grabbed this picture off Amazon. I've got an old jar that I can set it in, so the figure is upright when I'm not holding it (though I normally do hold it while I paint). The handle also screws off so I can just set the clamp/vice part down when I take photos. I've also got on that can be mounted to the bench, but I normally only use that for very special cases (like freehand, where I might want both of my hands free to work on the figure). For people who have shaky hands, which is definitely more common with age, the table mounted one might work better as they can use both hands to steady the brush. Luckily that's not something I've had to deal with yet, but I'm sure one day!
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On a different topic, I've finished with the write up on painting the shiny/reflective black for the boots. Hopefully will get it posted in the next day or so. I'll share the link here as soon as it's up. In the meantime, here's a bigger image of the early sketch next to the final version.
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