Flying Gobbite

I've got an idea for a forthcoming illustration and I'm determined to approach this one as professionally as I can. I guess there is no real 'professional' approach to any image, but what I intended to do is to try and work everything out before I go straight into the finished piece. I've been guilty of steamrolling head first into a piece of work in the past and although there are some benefits to this approach (fun, spontaneity,instinct) there are however negatives (misplacement,lost possibilities,regret)

I going to try and ride a wave in between both of these approaches. I'm not going to be doing loads and loads of thumb nails, character studies, lighting concepts, colour concepts. There is nothing wrong with doing all these things, in fact many an artist (and highly successful ones) do take this approach. But, for me this slows the instinct down and then that effects the fun. That said I'm far, far away from having the skill to be able to dive head first into an image and expect it to be a success. Therefore I will be taking the advantages of some pre studies.

This is a watercolour (see, I am trying to work more traditionally) concept of a Flying Gobbite that the scene in mind, will contain 3 of. Each Gobbite needs to be physically and characteristically different from each other and I think it's important at this stage that I get that nailed before I move on.