The task also involved these two goblins being tied up, that were meant to somewhat resemble the invaders from the Home Alone movie, which was a nice touch.

In hindsight, having a window above a fireplace doesn't make a lot of sense, but for the purposes of this illustration, it helped, so we can pretend.

During the ideation process, I explored the idea of tree roots taking hold of the ornaments, making the tree the source or center of the Golem.
But it was ultimately decided that for it to be an Ornament Golem, the focus should be on them, and that they should comprise it's primary shape.

Within the ratio constraints and the pre-established "camera" position, I had figured from the start, that in order to make the shape less confusing, I would set a fireplace as a backlight - the main light source.
And a "window" right above, casting a contrasting winter blue light.

I was tasked with bringing the folklore creature 'The Hidebehind' to life. The mission was to keep it organic but still with an appearance that could blend in with branches/trees.

The idea was that he'd have these tumor-like growths that would look like branches, to better camouflage itself at night in the forest.

For the composition, I had to figure out a way to show the dragon's scale, while also giving it a good pose that fit within the ratio restrictions, as well as making sure the background read as a Japanese koi pond.

The design went through many iterations, some leaning more fish-like, with dragon features, and other more dragon-like. The final choice was to go in the Dragon with Koi fish features direction.

Ultimately the director hand picked a couple of select bits from different versions, which led to the design in the final illustration.

Some quick exploration for their design. Some leaning more on classic medieval armor aspects, other more fantasy, and some more "mechanized".

Some quick exploration for their "action pose" for the final illustration.