This is a nice edit pistachio!
Harsher contrast between darks and lights really forces the shapes to be carved out. This is very nice!
I am somewhat philosophically pondering about the simplification however. I need to mentally wrestle with realistically trying to show what's there and how to symbolically reduce it to it's essence. Must think about this...
And to answer your question, I'm back at the dojo to improve myself and share where I can with others. I want to make the most of what I've got with what's in front of me.
(...that and I've been putzing with RPG maker and "art" in general lately. I do boring commercial layouts all day for work and it's refreshing nostalgia just to do stuff for the art of it.)
I appreciate your reply!
Cheers!