Concept:
- In a busy composition made of overlapping letters, counting by letter type across the whole image at once makes it easy to lose track. Splitting the picture into a few clearly separate zones and counting each zone fully before moving on is a safer strategy.
- Every stroke in the picture belongs to exactly one letter, so the zone totals must add up to the same grand total as a letter-by-letter count.
Step 1: Split the composition into zones.
The picture breaks naturally into three zones: the upper zone with the two pointed ear shapes at the top, the middle zone with the round body and the small letters stacked inside it along with the wheel shapes at the base, and the right zone with the rake-like branching shape.
Step 2: Count the letters in the upper zone.
Counting every letter used to build the two ears and the face area at the top gives 9 letters in this zone.
Step 3: Count the letters in the middle zone.
Counting every letter used to build the round body outline, the small letters stacked inside it, and the wheel shapes at the base gives 15 letters in this zone.
Step 4: Count the letters in the right zone and add up all three zones.
Counting every letter used to build the rake-like branching shape on the right gives 7 letters in this zone.
Total letters used $=9+15+7=31$.
Final Answer: 31