That's a great finish, Dave! I think you've done a great job with what is essential an older, simpler kit, applying "serious" figure painting techniques, shall we say, such as shading and highlighting. These old Aurora kits don't necessarily lend themselves to such techniques, though a good modeler or figure painter should be able to take any but the most absolutely awful kit and make it work. That is, for as advanced as these were when they were released-and they represented a very ambitious decision on Aurora's part-they are relatively simple, compared to the standard we have today.
As far as resin versus styrene is concerned, I wouldn't say that resin is necessarily easier to work with. Again, that's a matter of experience and skill; resin is simply a different animal from styrene, with its own things to look for, and its own prerequisite skills to work. But I do think it's correct to say that resin casting allows a maker to produce a figure with crisper details than injection molding. Especially in the figure world, we can see examples of subjects which have been produced in styrene and in resin, and the molding process produces crisper detail. For example, in the catalog of Maschinen Krieger subjects, the crew figures in Hasegawa's Falke kit have been re-issued in resin, and if we compare them, we can see the difference. Crisper details make it easier to paint, though again, once a painter hones his skills, he can probably make the styrene figure look better, it just takes more work. Again, I think you've done a great job with your Blackbeard.
I can see the point about a monochrome subject. Maybe if his coat were blue, it would break things up a bit. But it's not that big a deal.
As far as a glossy or matte finish goes, yeah, I use DullCote on my "serious" figures, while I use a gloss finish on my 54mm toy soldiers. I have to refer to Maschinen Krieger again, and tell you how I see many of the Japanese painters paint their figures to a semi-gloss finish, where we'd expect them to be dead matte. I think some of it comes from using lacquers as a preference, rather than acrylics or enamels as many of us do. But it also seems to be a choice that many of them make, a style that they paint to.
I look forward to your next project, whether you pick another classic kit like this one, or a newer figure. Keep stretching your skills! I also recommend trying a wet palette, if you're using acrylics. It really makes using them so easy.
Best regards,
Brad