For last week’s Thing of the Week (published in this post) I had to take a step back and find some sort of tutorial to follow. The video I found was not as detailed as a step-by-step and I struggled to find a way to explain it until my wife said “It’s like Bob Ross but without all the specifics.” That is exactly what it is. So what you see below is not my concept, not really my color palette and mostly not my design, but I did do the entire thing from scratch and am happy with the way it turned out. I would love to give credit to the guy who originally created this but the tutorial is something I grabbed sometime ago and I see that his website no longer exists. If the original artist ever reads this, thank you very much.
The idea was to take a phrase and generate a quick concept sketch in thirty minutes. The phrase was “The Last Stronghold” and pro doing it was able to finish in about 40 minutes. It took me about two days. Both his version and mine have problems that you’d want to correct for a rendering but I think they succeed in conveying a mood. I tend to like more gestural painterly images than tighter more realistic ones anyway. If you want realism, why not just mash up some photos in Photoshop?
The final concept was a giant walled city near the base of a mountain. The invading army approaches with their siege engines. The city has already been softened as is evident from the smoke issuing from within. High on a rocky ledge an armored individual watches. The sun is setting.
Jason Patz 
Neat! Those seige engines look like the stumps of Truffula trees. I never figured on the old Onceler as wearing a cape. Maybe it’s a thneed.
What a great idea to reference the good Dr. If I do any more with this concept I might have to think about some Seussian influence.