I did the textures ar 512 x 512 and had trouble texturing it. did realize to later to make the document 3 times the size to start texturing it and resize it when finished. I rigged it to see of it moves but havnt weighted it yet that's why I didn't show any poses. Your right though a pose always looks better than a t pose. That's wher I am at as far as modeling and have been working in the codeing end so when I go back to modeling I know what needs fixing.

you can smooth the mesh with mesh smooth and still retain the textures. I only mesh smoothed the face.