The Tree Sessions

A.K.A. GameLab part 3
As we said before, we would post our findings very soon. Well, that day has arrived.
Last week the studio discussed the differences between pencil sketches and the final artwork. One of those differences is that the 'weak' areas in a pencil sketch always show when you turn them into color.

Today we had the pleasure of finding these great recreated pans and layouts from the ‘golden era of animation’, from disney’s DONALD DUCK short OFFICER DUCK. I took the unrespectful liberty to cut and paste the tree from that pan to show the black and white, the pencil and the final version next to each other to see the process.
The small differences between pencil and color show that in the painted version (both B/w and colored) you can really see where branches are going and with that where the tree is going. It really makes the design better and clearer to read.

Although the foliage remains too solid, the question is, if we adjust one of our own tree sketches according to these 'clearity' rules, does it become better and clearer to read?