HUDs and Menus

[Jamuk]

Hi, I'm working on sprites for an RTS game involving zombies. The units are going fine, but I am having trouble on producing the HUD and menus. I also can't seem to find any useful tutorials online as they are all about CSS menus.
Has anyone got any tips for creating these things as I can't quite get any nice shading or styling into them? I've posted what I have so far. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Curly

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

It'd be better if you used an image hosting site, some people may not want to download this file to see it, much as it's a small file. I guess you haven't read the stickied threads.
If you're not good at shading or styling, go for something simple and angular, comprised mainly of rectangles with no shading, for example.

[Jamuk]

Sorry about that, the new image is here: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/834/unitmenu.png/
My WiP version is flat-shaded and it looks a bit, well, flat. Is there a way to break up the flat-shading a bit to make it look better, like what greebles do on spaceships?

[Cobalt Blue]

i'd help us a lot to figure a good hud if you made a mockup. that way we can actually put things in context.

[Jamuk]

http://s1061.photobucket.com/albums/t478...Screen.jpg
There's some art of a possible screenshot, including what I want the HUD to look like.

[Cobalt Blue]

by mockup i meant using whatever ingame graphics you have. that is what would give us an idea of the color scheme and the contrast you could posibly need for your hud.