I'd say explore mixing your favorite pieces of your rough sketches. Do about 3 - 5 of them and see what you like best and let us see those until you get a good design you want to make?
Strong start otherwise, hope it works out in the end.
@3dc thank you !
I've tried to explore some bodys and I'll stick with this one. SO I'm going to explore these a bit further. I need to make the relation with the earth a little bit more obvious I guess.
I also made some banners reserchs and end up with this design.
Hey !
I've quite finished my charachter concept, I'm not shure about the tail and some proportions but the main idea is there !
I used the new celebrations as a total break for this contest and design. Then this evening I asked myself, if I was the great power of the Earth, what kind of herault would I want to annonce the approch of my army.
With this statement, I found my design pretty "meh" and unconvincing for that purpose. If I was the great and big Earth, I would love to have something bigger, heavier and more frightening to announce my army.
Then I came up with the idea that I should create something only for this purpose, not a humanlike creature with a banner. So I keep the idea of a magical like floating symbol and build a gigantic golem to support it.
And it's cool, I like it a alot. 
I just made some compositions tests. I'm not sure if the sketches are clear enough but I don't want to polish them too hard. I personnaly think the 10 is the best, and I could roll with it, what do you think ?
Hey !
Here is where the real fun strat !
I've been messing around with some colors and ambiance, and this one particulary please me. I think it just need a bit more of vibrations, the color palette make this already stable composition really quiet and I don't like that much (it's war isn't it ?).
So my next step will be to figure out how to add a bit a dynamisme with the color play.
If you have any suggestions, about anything, I will be more than happy to read your comments !
First update on the illustration itself. I'm feeling like the more aggressive sky was better.
Secpmd work in progress, I've decided to push the top of my creature further in the distance, and to keep the sky less charged.
I'm also trying some new render techniques, we'll see.
This looks pretty great! I like how the sky is looking, i think it looks better this way than having it charged, brings more focus to your character
I love the new design, that is some badass earth golem 
The illustration starts to have a Magic the Gathering vibe !
Interesting perspective!
@yazziixx Thank ! I think it look better like this too !
@gabinguede.work Thank you so much. I love MTG ! making illustration for them is one of my dreamjob and objective.
@baklaher Thank's ! Since my golem is a quite big and stable creature, I've guessed I should add the dynamism with the composition
Ahh this is awesome! And honestly I'm glad you had a change of heart with the design. The first one was pretty alright, but bland and to me looked like a soldier in earthly uniform. This is amazing though, and the sense of scale and power really comes across as something of nature. Probably one of my favourites so far honestly I'm excited to see more!
@nesokaiyoh Oh god, your comment warm my heart thank you so much !<3
I'm glad you like the new design ! I have the same feeling about the old one
Keeping the render process, there's some parts a bit messy because I was not convinced by what I've done so I went back on the previous version.
I was looking at my illustration and I had the idea of flipping the canvas to caught the eye with the arm, and make it stay on the head.
What do you think ?
really cool design! I like the unflipped one better 
looking to the right makes it feel like he's moving towards something
Thank you for your comment !
Yes they both tell a really different story, I'm not sure which one I preferer yet, but thank your for the advise
The progress on this design is amazing, and its so cool, I was just thinking though that it would be kinda cool if the earth emblem was like a lense having the sun come through. Eitehr way i love it, the canopy is coming along really well.
That's not a bad idea, I will think about that, thank you for your comment and your suggestion ;D
Are you going to add anything else that could help with the scale? The mountains at the front actually take out the depth that your creature has, like the foreground looks flat
I like it. I think about adding more storm clouds right side of this spirit - like "the storm goes away with his appearance"
Hey !
@nesokaiyoh es sure, the spike at the front will no be rock or mountain but spruce/fir. I also want to add more small (in comparison) earth golems to bring more of the war aspect.
@darthmorpho That's a very nice idea, thank you for the suggestion
New update for my illustration.
I've made some improvement in the render, made the trees and foreground. And I've roughly added a bit of storm in my side clouds.
I'm not sure if the current state of the tree doesn't flood too much my creature, I've a lot of work left to do with the values and contrast of this area.
Then I need to put some basic and smaller earth golem/warrior and figure out some things for the overall render, to bring the illustration together.
Also, thank you for all your support and kind messages, when I've entered this challenge I was far away from expecting that 
. If you have any comment/critic/suggestion feel free to let me know 
Update time !
I've work a bit on my image, so here the new one.
I've removed details from the trees because I was feeling that they take too much space which didn't fit their purpose very well. Also I've add some basic earth golems (still need to work on them).
Great idea with the golems, really like that! It adds up a lot to the overall atmosphere and feeling.
Thank you very much ! I'm glad they fit with the idea.
Wow this is really coming on, I didn't reply last time but it does look better with the trees. I think you should try adding some colour harmony though, it's all green and a tiny bit of blue and not much else. Adding a complimentary or even analagous colour will help the piece harmonise and give it a bit of oof in the focal department! great job
Thank you for your comment !
You are probably right I was feeling something like that too. I think it's time to tweak a bit my illustration. In the first place I was tempted to add a bit of pink/red to add a bit of vibration to the colours so I'll probably go back to that.
I have a few idea for that and I will roughly edit my image with them but if you have any suggestion, please let me know !
Imo if I was painting this I'd go for a sunny day theme, it could leave a huge shadow which would have cooler hues, and the sun hitting the creature and trees would leave beautiful sub surface scattered greens and oranges. You could make the rocks slightly cool grey in tone too, and because the creature is so big there would certainly be some blue (just a tad) in the atmospheric perspective.
Here's an example,
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rRXO4J
It's a mostly green image but there are stunning deep blues in the shadows and lush bright greens and yellows where the sun hits the plants. Like this too, you could even have some cloud passing over the legs in yours to show a bit more depth!
Agree with nesokaiyoh about adding more to the color scheme.
On top of that, I feel you can add or tweak the areas around your creature to make him feel bigger in size. At the moment, I feel the size of the trees in the foreground make the creature feel smaller in comparison. Maybe shrink the trees in the foreground or middleground. You could also add things like tiny birds flying in the BG to increase the sense of scale. Otherwise I like how it's going so far. Keep it up. ^^
@nesokaiyoh Thank you for the feedback and the reference. This would certainly be helpfull
@tj-works I agree with the three I think they don't really hit their purpose right now.
I will make some attempt today or tomorrow. Thank you again for your consideration <3
I like the design of your monster a lot, and the composition is strong.
I agree with the above comment that some small bits of complamentary colors would help liven everything up.
To me it looks like the monster just put his hand down there on the ground to keep moving forward. Maybe you could have some bits of dirt and dust flying up?
@caffeinatedbrushes Thank you for your comment !
I've been struggling for some hours when I finally came up with this. I've tweaked the colours, change the sky a bit, bend the trees like there's a quite powerful shock-wave. I'm quite happy with the add of some birds but well not like this. I've also add some dust and cloud for the global depth.
For now I'll leave it like this and will continue thinking of better ways to improve my painting but I feel it's going on the right direction.
Wow this already looks way better! I honestly had no idea the guy in the right corner was there though, he needs to stand out a bit more. The dust by the creature's feet is a nice touch too. Good job it's coming along really nicely!
Thank you ! I'll focus on fixing a lot of my messy stuff for the next step, but I'll take care of my golems soon
there are troubles with focal point - colors are very similar. this causes a mess. champion is really good (the only thing i would prefer is to do smth with his horn-it looks little bit strange), but he neither attack enemy, nor defend himself or smth.
@darthmorpho Oh sorry about the late response, I reed your reply and then went on something else.
Yes you are right about the colours I need to put a little more variations between the creature and to rock.
And I know this is kind of a gamble but I really don't want to make a fighting character, there are so many other aspect in a war that need to be explored. That's what I went for a flag bearer which objective is to announce an army and make fear upon the enemy. Show the power of earth. I know this is a strange way to do but I'll stick to that.
Anyway thank for your answer <3
