It has potential.  I think however that the handle on the gun is just way too comical looking.  In reality, the gun is just too big.  I think it would still look good if the gun were smaller, with the barrel a bit longer and the handle ending proportionally to the entire gun.  No reason it HAS to go all the way to the bottom of the startpanel.  Or, you could leave the gun but shorten the handle.  It really does look wrong.  This is of course, only an opinion.

Actually, the gun is modeled after a real one (not the grip) .....with those perportions. Yes it's big, yes is not a whole gun.....it's a start panel, windowblinds limits you on some things because you need to have text on it. If I made the whole gun up there, the start panel would be bigger than it is, taller or wider or both. 

this is the complete gun that I made, and used elsewhere in the blind.

Well, like I mentioned, leave the gun as is but maybe do something about that grip.  There's no reason the grip HAS to go to the bottom is there?

would look dumb going half way I think, its stylistic license, looks good to me

and that Rainy is awesome

proportions

I'm late to the party but I'm gonna do a "the good,the bad and the ugly" routine anyhows.

The good...Its artistic and bold...something I applaud regardless of usability. The bullets for buttons is great.

The bad...The fonts take this somewhere between wow,thats so cool and dang this would be great if it were not for the fonts. Advice...offer a sub with MS fonts.(except for the titlebar and Start menu).At least tell them they can use WBconfig to force only system fonts.(never actually used that so I have no idea how it works)

The 'ugly'...this is where it gets more into personal taste.If you stroke a graphic (and you almost always should) learn to keep the bevel hilites off of it.They get washed out and your images start to look undefined and less pro.If necessary,put your stroke on a seperate top layer. (pushing hilites around is something PS pros learn early on...mostly just raising the lites altitude and maybe the depth setting too)

Also,with hilites...ALWAYS explore other hilites and shadows than the defaults (screen and multiply).Multiply works well mostly but screen is best at glassy gradient hilites.

When not doing glass,screen makes your hilite look dull and lifeless.Be adventurous and try multiple lite tricks.Multiple sources,stacked,hand drawn with vectors etc...(standard PS bevels are not always the best way to add 3dness to an image)

Personally I would keep the woodgrain off the buttons with the exception of the normal state of the taskbar...make the buttons see thru so they dont interrupt the grain.( I think that grain is too big to tile well but you chose it so you must like it,heheh)(there are lots of tricks to hiding tile points)

I dont want to hatchet this to pieces so thats more than enough...seeing as how your about done...snicker.uhhhhhhh...more brass...

oh,one more thing...metal gradients look better with more than one hilite...next time try adding a secondary weaker one to break up the shadow area.

Dont think just because I had so much to comment on that its not dang cool as it is...but I see even cooler in your future projects.

(thats what you get for putting me in your list)

oh...dont forget to schedule that operation...

Hilite most often used....................OVERLAY

As far as the wood grain on the buttons, I like it, but will probably end up doing a substyle with different ones, and lighter toolbars, because some toolbars have unchangable black text. I use almost no toolbars, so I never see the black text.

hmmm, more brass.... I'll think on that one.

Thanks IR, I'm always open to learn new techniques.

(btw, overlay completely vanishes on the wood. If you have a trick to keep it visible, I'd love to know it)

Looks like I have more work to do.......     ....and an operation to get.

Well, that's snippy enough for me.  Thanks.

Vivid light   My personal fav.

Muy bueno,pero hay una cosa que no me cuadra,la empuñadura,le quita veracidad ¿no podria ser una empuñadura normal?

Also, I like playing around with the contour and gloss contour settings, as well as using different dark/light combinations other than black & white.

Overlay can seem weak on wood but if you combine it with a screen blend that is the right shape you can get some neat results.

I should have been clearer...as a rule I dont usually use screen...at least not as a default...especially on buttons.

See this link for a quick example of what I mean.Its 2 types of hilites combined and some other lighting tricks to bring extra intrest and life to an image.

Please dont think I did this to make it appear you are doing things wrong...its all subjective...just some techniques to toss at you.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w239/irbrainiac/woodexample.jpg

I have no idea what I.R.B. is talking about but I'll bet it looks good.   I think how all you skinners jump right in to share your knowledge and help each other is very commendable. What a great community!!! No way I could ever create anything close to what any of you do but you better believe I enjoy using them.

Thats OK...I barely do either.

I dont want it quite that shiney, but I get your point. I need to think more in the line of different types of light, with possibly more than one direction that it would be comming from. I was going for a more worn, but not too worn, look. With dimention but like the finish has been worn off a bit. Some of my lines are not 100 percent straight...that was intentional to give it a more rustic feel. I will try some of your ideas out on my next set of days off and see where it takes me.

 One of the reasons i started making blinds is because I was seeing things that I would change in some blinds that I was downloading....things I thought would look better done a different way. Exactly what you are doing now.

Try making one that you like....you may find that you enjoy the process.

just the wood pieces on the frame have been changed so far.. The shadow is off a bit now, so I'll have to fix that, but i'm quite happy with the result.