...no
why not use the gradient fill? :p
no it was good....but i don't really found this a good tutorial, i don't really beleive you need to critic the content, because there is always someone that will use this information. So really work on your lay out man, add music, nice introduction (finish it at least before Newgrounds submission) background color thingy (white is a bit....white) and nice looking buttons, etc
just kepe at it, and....give nicer examples, your examples looked like crap (yes i can do better shading on your way :p
Cheers