Fire Rabbit Lion Snake

If you haven't seen it yet, Rachel illustrated an actual conversation we had at comic con.
I LOVE being a geek.

And now for Fire Rabbit Lion Snake's Ukiyo-e appearance:

(This is the text you click to make the image bigger)

This spawned from 's Deviation ([link]). So of course, I had a go at it.
I am a Leo (I'm female, so I used a girl lion, obviously), Year of the Fire Rabbit, born in the hour of the Snake. O_O There's even more to my Chinese Astrology, but I won't bore you with it. And my birthstone is Ruby, hence the eyes.
Good luck to Rachel who has to combine the Fire Tiger, hour of the Snake with Libra. :/ Inanimate object = HARD.

I want to do something more dynamic eventually, but this one is a test-subject as I describe below...

So I saw Gez's Ukoyo-e work ([link]), and the comic called We the Robots ([link]) that looks like traditional litho-printing, and I thought, man, I wanna do that. In digital.

Here is my first attempt. I had no idea really where to start, and I switched my technique halfway through, so I don't think it's as successful as it could be.
PLEASE help me out here.

The main thing I want it to look like is Japanese Wood-block prints, or Ukiyo-e.
The texture doesn't come from the paper as much as it comes from the ink not being 100% saturated on the paper, there are small areas where the ink doesn't print fully on, leaving 'holes' in the shape, letting the paper show through.
And I haven't been able to really get it the way it should look.
Chris of 'We the Robots' was kind enough to reply to my e-mail and gave me some helpful tips and leads, but I guess I'm just not smart enough yet.
:/

Ukiyo-e reference: [link]
image: [link]
image: [link]

PLEASE tell me anything you don't like or think could be improved upon, I need all the help I can get.
D: