Tarot Tuesday: The Emperor

It's that time again! Today I'd like to share another of the Major Arcana cards with you: 

The Emperor - 10" x 16.5" Oil on watercolor paper.

This guy was lots of fun as I always enjoy creating humanoid creatures that are part human with other animal features. The Emperor here is depicted as a version of Cernunnos, or "The Horned God" in Celtic Paganism. I can't go much more into explanations on the other symbolism as I don't want to go against or assume what the author has in mind, but I think everything works really well together in this one. 

This one didn't require too much preliminary sketching because the description given to me by the author, Melanie Marquis, provided a pretty clear mental image for what I want the final to look like. Here's a thumbnail I created for approval: 

Digital

Once the thumbnail was given the OK I went ahead with photos and created the charcoal sketch: 

10" x 16.5" Charcoal and digital.

If you compare the sketch with the final, I decided to shrink his head a little as it got slightly on the large side in the sketch. 

That's all for today! Next week's post may be delayed, as I will be travelling and might not have internet access, but never fear! I'll post as soon as I can soon after. Thanks for stopping by!