Bleh, I should have read the whole thread first. That beaming light idea would have been better than this. Regardless, I'll explain what I'm trying to show for ya. Some of this stuff won't help you in your contest but its nice general knowledge you may or may not already know.
http://www.munk3yboy.com/temp/comp.jpg[/img]
These are called Kirby Dots, or sometimes the Kirby Crackle. Named after Jack Kirby who was a rather famous comic book artist. They're nice quick and simple to make, and work well to lead the eye to a focal point. The green arrows are indications of directing the eye to a focal point, which is naturally the girl. I'm unfamiliar with the characters, and don't really know all the rules to the contest, so this may not work in this particular situation. You could however, do the same thing only with a light beam from above. Like I said, had I read that before I would have done it, because I think it'd work a lot better. It also doesn't have to be dots, I've seen people using the same idea drawing little triangular dots to suggest entire trees this way. I'm using a digital medium here, but they're probably even easier with real ink. Just grab a sharpie or a fattie black marker (round tip if you want dots though) and knock it out in a few seconds. Vary dot size by varied pressure of course. I'll link to a tutorial I found at the bottom, although it happens to be very similar to what I have here. =/ In reality you can do any kind of pattern, I (and apparantly the tutorial) both are basing off leading the eye.
Now the red lines are a composition thing. This probably won't give you a boost in the contest, but its really handy to know. Pro photographers use this all the time, its called the Rule of Thirds. Basically what you do is simply disect your page into approximately thirds (you don't have to actually draw the lines of course). Then you line your focal point either along the lines or place the characters eyes directly on an intersecting point. Since I was mainly illustrating the Kirby dots and its properties in this quickie, I made it wider. You could keep it exactly how you have it but just adjust your characters abit so that they intersect the points (typically the eyes would line up on an intersection with pin-ups). It just gives it a more overall pleasant presentation. Its SO common in photography my crappy little digi cam has an option to turn a grid on in the LCD display to assist in aligning to them lol. Drawing of course you can do all kinds of things you simply cannot in photography so its not quite as common, but you'll still see it a lot in professional art if you know to look for it. Handy to know if you don't already, if you're ever the designated cameraman on vacation, it'll assist there as well . ^_^
Some extra links:
Kirby Dots Tutorial
Kirby Dots Wiki page (has a silver surfer illustration with a more chaotic organization of the dots)
Rule of Thirds Wiki (great photograph that demonstrates it)
Great stuff btw. You do great poses, very natural and casual.
