You Would Not Believe Your Eyes

For a long time I've had this vague idea for this race called the Sylphs for my fantasy story project.  I envision them as faerie-like, delicate, winged beings that are kind of the societal wild cards of their world.  As air-elementals, I thought it might be interesting if they were highly amorphous illusionists, and thus capable of generating their appearance according to their whims.  But where would I begin in designing characters that could look like whatever they wanted?

As an exercise and challenge for myself I created a thread on GaiaOnline a long while back soliciting for lists of images and text that I could draw from to see how the concept would play out.  Specifically, I asked contributors for five different images representing, in turn, a color scheme, a place, an object, a character and a calling (like a role or occupation).  I also asked for words of some kind.  These are the parameters/explanations I posted of each:

• For “color," use an image that shows colors you’d like me to emulate. This can be a picture of something from nature, a character with a cool color scheme, an article of clothing, a single crayon, or even just a blob of colors you scribbled up in MS Paint.
  
• “Place” needs to somehow show a setting. It can be an environment like a forest or desert, a building like a castle or a beach house, or something even more broad like a map with a certain region circled or highlighted. Remember, they don't have to be real places, so something like a snapshot from WoW or zOMG! will work just as well.
  
• The "Object" is probably the most versatile essence. For this, you'd just send me a picture of a thing. Something, anything. A weapon, a toy, an article of clothing, a piece of jewelry, something from nature, even living things like animals or plants. If the specific object you have in mind isn't the main feature of the image you use, make sure you circle or highlight it somehow so I know what you want.
  
• "Character" is pretty straightforward. You'd simply post an image of a person, real or fictional. These can range from photos of real people to movie/comic/anime/video game characters to personal OCs and avatars from anywhere. You can also use one of your other pets if you'd like your Sylph to emulate them. Keep in mind that the "character" you choose doesn't have to be human--anthros, fantasy characters, robots, animals, plants--anything that could be considered a character counts.
  
• "Calling" images should in some way depict a job, class, occupation, etc. Though Sylphs usually live only on the outer fringes of society and generally don't have to deal with such "mortal" things as figuring out how to put food on their plates, many will emulate some kind of lifestyle that will effect the way they look. "Callings" can be stereotypical fantasy classes like warriors, rogues, and clerics; more mainstream, "practical" roles like medics, farmers, or caretakers; mysterious occupations like hypnotists or tarot readers; or even something futuristic like a mecha pilot or a computer hacker!
  
• The essence of "words" is a little more vague, but the general idea is to provide a phrase that evokes an image or tone that you would like me to apply to the design of your sylph. This can be just one word like "windswept," or "hemlock," a small description like "wandering mourner" or "lake of fire," lyrics from a poem or song, or even a short excerpt from a story.

The combinations I found most interesting/appealing, I illustrated, working from a basic physique for all of them and personalizing them according to the influences of the pictures and words.

This is the first one I did, more than two years ago.  This one was for my sister LC, and since it was the first, it was the only one I had the patience to render tidily.   So many anatomy and rendering hiccups with this one. @_@  I also accidentally saved it too small.

(These are all hyperlinked, so if the links are broken I apologize.  Some of the images I haven't been able to find again.)
Color -  A blue and green feather
Place - A pond
Object - A music box
Character -  A surreal image of a woman walking through rain of fire
Calling - An Elven archer
Words - "Fireflies" by Owl City
"You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep"

Then this project was shoved to the back burner for a long time and I only just recently finished the others that I liked.  These are much sketchier, but my grasp of anatomy improved drastically in the interim.

You can see the other four here:  
Let Them Dwell in Bliss
 Patines of Bright Gold
We Wear the Mask That Grins and Lies 
The Moon in the Well