barking up the wrong tree indeed. My background in 2D that was any sort of serious attempt (4 years) was graphite and so careful attention was needed for shading, ect. Your method actually emulates a real eye and, did it help?? yeah, very much. the approach is completely different.

The spotlights??? yes, completely impractical. when I first began 3D I read a tut in one of the mags and completely misunderstood it. I can see that now, especially as I have the mag sitting in front of me ready to reference it and finding nothing that says anything about lighting the eyes to create high lights with spot lights?? My god, it's like what has been said, often we only see only what fits into our preconceptions. Doesn't read at all like when I first read it??