Sketching process - Ascelin

My most recent commission! I'll detail out some of the thought process that goes into my thumbnailing for an illustration.
Final: https://www.deviantart.com/remarin/art/C-Ascelin-1160771958 

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The primary use for thumbnailing is to quickly test out different approaches to a piece, testing the posing, the perspective, the composition, the lighting - feeling out the different points of intrigue in a quick and surface level rendition. For your own personal use, maybe you just need some mad scribbling and blocks of shapes and shades and your minds eye fills in the blanks, but when working with a client, it serves you well to make sure you can communicate your intent somewhat clearly!

So when approaching a piece you start with going over the wishes of the commissioner, taking a good look at the reference design and either getting a sense for the character and their vibe through their visuals, or refer to the clients info on them - In this case we got a vampiric dragoness "very dramatic and snide sort of evil- like Loki from Marvel, or Scar from the Lion King"
Then we got environment, a gothic/royal bathhouse - and lastly context for the scene; the bath is filled with blood, scattered about are corpses.

So we got a villain revelling in their massacre!
-For this first thumbnail, I wanted to strike a good balance; feature the environment in a striking symmetrical composition, and have a charismatic pose for the character, but not too wild so that the features are well visible and recognizeable. "S"-shape poses are a definite favourite for draconic creatures!

-The second thumbnail I instead focused on creating an interplay between dynamic motion and the grand, but static, architecture - a big beast painting the walls red.
The character itself would be less in focus, but big motion can add a lot of impact in a pushed perspective and with a high-detail design look very impressive.

-Third thumbnail would've needed the most work and tweaks - a static pose and an angle that doesn't show off much of the enviroment? The perspective would need to be spot-on to make this composition look intriguing - But this set up would truly put the character in the sole focus, letting the pool of blood also be as impactful as can be - a presentory type approach.

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So here we are! The first thumbnail got chosen, and I will say, it might've been wise of me to not include the third option as I wasn't fully convinced of it myself - a piece of advice I've heard in the concept art industry is, do not show your clients the concepts you dislike the most, since if they get picked you'll then have to spend some multiple hours polishing that concept. You already do so much to cater to your clients wants, gotta make sure you get your own enjoyment out of it too!