from start to finish

I was contracted to create a t-shirt design based on an interview with an Iraqi orphan for the organization Take Pride. My idea was to show her optimism among the seemingly hopeless chaos. Here's my first sketch:
They thought the scene was too war-torn (well...?). They asked me to dull down the conflict and make her look younger (they were right on that, she looks like a teenager. The one way I know how to make people look younger is to draw their eyes and head bigger). This is my revised sketch:
The final is limited to four colors. It is way more inoffensive than my initial sketch. Here it is: