Evolution of an Illustration - Stage Two

I then moved on to a cleaner version of the drawing, to decide what was and wasn't working:

• In the upper right you can see an indication of the barbarian woman from the front cover battling with an evil sorceress. I really liked this struggle playing out in the background, but it just felt like this was stealing focus from Milhouse.

• The dragons silhouetted against the moons in the upper left were just eating up too much space and not adding much.

• The ogre holding up his shield in the lower right was taking up too much space, and again, stealing focus.

• As I envisioned it, Milhouse is supposed to be whirling around, slashing at enemies with both his swords. However, the position of his left-handed sword was obscuring the shape and motion of his body.