Design of a Coat of Arms

2018 is nearly at its end, fruitful or not, it had its positive sides.
I wish to share few creative processes of one of my favorite 2018 commission,
Coat of Arms.

My commissioner was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkein's writing to deliver a rough sketch to be then processed and assembled.

Once the outlines are established.

Once the colours are established.

Re-elaborations following given sketch, trying to be as fateful as possible to commissioner request are executed. It is gratifying to see components come to life.

Still closely related to the initial take, the design is slowly deviating from its source.

This is the part I enjoy the most. The third part of my proposal is always my own views on the matter. Is, most of the time, the part where the initial composition is shuffled.

Once the suggestions are assessed by the commissioner, I usually extend the request to choose two or more elements to be re-examined, even if they are sure about their choice. In this case, design A & N were picked out. The commissioner can stick to the initial choices if they wish to.
But in this case...