Good idea Perfecto, thanks! I'll try that out as well, but turning the head down makes it look a bit twisted, and if I place the camera higher then the character looks less overwhelming or fearful... :/

These are the two poses I most like in the end... After much consideration I returned to something like the first pose, it's simple, but it looks firm and good. I'm going to play around with its fingers a bit, it looks better if its palm is open. I think I'll choose from these and make the rest of the head materials and a final render while I have the time over the weekend.

ps. I'm attaching the texture map used for the metal I simply used free metal textures from here: https://cgtextures.com/