Refine graphic design for Ninja Sailor

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This customer received 6 graphic designs from 2 designers. They chose this graphic design from lionx as the winning design.
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See the attached eps file. I like the design/concept, but the circular wheel is a simple 2 tone brown, and could use more texture, detail and refinement. I also think the overall graphic needs to be more matte/flat, so it doesn't look too out of place on the side of a boat. Less like a sticker. So maybe remove the light reflections and shadow tones. Maybe if all the fills were more like a brush stroke or spray can (or maybe that would look bad). Not really sure, so ideas and creativity welcome.
One idea if you're interested in trying it, is to change the wheel to be a carbon fiber wheel as shown in the attachments. That will also match the boat this decal is going on, so that could be cool.
Update #1, added a matte version of eps file with almost all effects removed. This is probably a decent starting point.
Target Market(s)
marine, boat decal
Industry/Entity Type
Marine
Colors
Designer to choose colors to be used in the design.
Look and feel
Each slider illustrates characteristics of the customer's brand and the style your logo design should communicate.
Elegant
Bold
Playful
Serious
Traditional
Modern
Personable
Professional
Feminine
Masculine
Colorful
Conservative
Economical
Upmarket
Requirements
Must have
- - overall improve quality of graphic
- - at a minimum wheel should be more detailed/realistic (though not too realistic, unless the ninja is also improved)
- - more matte/flat look to overall graphic
Nice to have
- - improvements to ninja
- - other cleanup
- - try out a carbon fiber wheel (may end up being too much black, black on black)
Should not have
- - changes to overall layout and design. you could replace the wheel completely if you have something better, but the design should remain the same.