Hello,
Mathias: Your version is a bit extreme and for me it somewhat looses the wooden feel, but it aims in the right direction. I will try a combination of the two ways by adjusting the palette and emphasising the volume by enlarging the dark and light areas a bit.
In the first place i just wanted to do this charcter because it haunted me. I am thinking about expanding it now though. I think its worth to put more work into this one.