@madfox - Thanks, and you're right, it's pretty challenging. I don't think the hardest part for me is the painting, it's probably the rigging... or the retopology.... or the weight painting... or the overwhelming feeling that I'm fucking up throughout the entire production of the model. eh, it all sucks IMO :P
@shambler - I don't know what that regime is and I don't want to (maybe a little... drugs?).
@fifth - short answer: a mistake on my part rooted in lack of experience and the desire for the model to read well in-game.
long answer: original tests (with sprites) taught me that the thin, mangled and busy form of the original afflicted just didn't read nearly as well as the bulky, simple enemies from games of yore
example so I simplified the sprite (see my previous post). That line of thinking carried over to the models. I'm not happy with the afflicted and will redo it at a later time and make it more interesting and grotesque. The current one is adequate for dev, so I'll be using it for a while.