YAY! It's DONE!

First off, I wanna say that the colors in that woman's hair are fucking BEAST. That's the first thing I notice every time I look at this pic. This says a lot, since my eyes spaz out every time I glance at this picture. The composition is set up really nicely; it's uberdynamic and I love that.
I am tempted to believe that the composition would flow even better had you done a few things (and I'm going to be super-nitpicky) :
-Arranged the hair more consistently. The flips in her hair (especially the top one) bug me in the sense that they go against the flow of the piece and each other. More gradual of a flip would look more believable as well. Also, I am confused by the overlap with the cat's head. I like it, I just don't understand it.
-Added backlighting or a wash. I know this is difficult when you use pastel and colored pencil over watercolor (that's why I cringed when you told me you were mixing them). The law of reflected light tells me that you need blue in the shadows of the people's skintones. This would help them seem less disconnected from the background. I would like to see some more red (like that cloaked dude's color) somewhere else, or have the blue repeat in him.
-Adjusted the anatomical structure of Mr. Clean's face. He looks pretty much like a hermaphrodite. His cheekbones say chiseled, but his face outline says soft curves. Something needs to be accentuated, probably with jagged corners, in order for this to translate. This is when I really wish I had photoshop and my tablet to doodle on this and show you what I'm talking about...

...well anyway, that's it I suppose! It looks really good, and I hope my critique didn't seem too harsh. I get into it so easily...

Anyway, love the colors, love the energetic cats, and that crazy flow you've got going.
Your client is sure to love it

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"We're gonna make some big decisions in our little world." -Bob Ross

WAAAUW, long comment! I was kind of counting on that...

Yes, I love her hair so much! Martha never told me what color hair she actually had, so I tried to make it... neutral? I failed at that, but it still looks pretty killer. I swear it was brown before I inked it.

I agree that the hair is a bit unrealistic, but I didn't have any references for this, so I just kind of had to... wing it. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.

The cat... All the examples she sent me were photomanips with transparencies, and she really liked that. So I guess that was me trying to give the piece a transparent element/work with the space I had. Adding text into this thing is going to be a massive pain, but I've thought of a few ways to work with it. So we'll see.

Reflective light... Good to know. Where are these laws, exactly? I never learned about it, so once more, just... winging it. =/ Thanks for mentioning this in particular!

Mr. Clean? Lol, yeah basically. I drew him out about the same time I was looking at African-American bone structure, so I think that kind of got reflected into him. And I have to tell you... I'm just glad he's not uber-pale anymore. It looked STRAAANGE. I wish I knew what you were talking about. Jagged corners where? Blah, whatever. That's what happens when I start drawing for a romance novel. I feel obligated to draw a "pretty boy", and get... Hermie. Woo!

Not too harsh at all, no worries... Really. I wish more people would be nitpicky. It's helpful, even if it stings a little sometimes.

Sending it to Martha in the morning (the original). NEERVOUS!

Responding in person. :3

--
"We're gonna make some big decisions in our little world." -Bob Ross

SO you're doing book covers now, maybe down the road when I finally reach the 'the end' of a story I'll come to you. Guess I better get on the ball soon or we'll both be too old to appreciate it. lol.

Myeeees.