there are a few texture packs floating around forums that greatly improve the classic models,
check here. i personally use the psycher cell-shaded texture pack, but i have read good things about the high-res package that is on that page. iirc, there are also some others on forums that have not yet been added to that wiki page.
also, if you can figure out how to do high-res textures with velious armor, i would be very interested as to know how.