Hoth needs help de-crapifying this sprite

[ngaurhoth1]

First of all, I'd like to know the gender. :p
I'll assume this is a man's face. Is he frowning, or not?

Anyway, here's what I've done:

I redrew the face, a skull to its scale and a wireframe of the face.
Your main issues are proportions and lighting, and those elements should hopefully help.
No. 3 is breaking the symmetry, to give a more natural feel to the face.

I then have this:

Just to show the relation between a skull and a face, the bits that make it etc.

Very nice technique, that is definitely something I'll be using~
Um well for this particular face I want a somewhat 'supernatural' look if that makes any sense? That's part of why I used such high contrast on the eyes. You could compare the idea I'm going for with 'incurring the wrath of the gods'.
What would you recommend me doing for something like that?