Volcanic Range Hellguard

I'm trying out making a magic the gathering-like illustration. I guess it went from a "Death" sort of creature to more of a "Fire" one... Scroll down for the earlier stages.
I was thinking this guy could be a sort of guardian in a volcanic mountain area. Maybe there are several of these dudes spread out over the land, standing watch for incoming enemies.
Not yet done with this one... I'll post the final image once it's finished.

w.i.p. 6 - I think I'm done. I added some flames to his weapon after someone pointed out it didn't look threatening enough. Hopefully it's not too distracting. I added some detail to the face and tweaked a couple of things here and there. I'll leave it be for now and maybe make adjustments down the road. Hope you like it!


w.i.p. 5 - Darkened the sky and worked on some of the guard's armor and body. I think I am almost there.


w.i.p. 4 - Enhanced the contrast in some areas, especially in the head, since it's a focal point. The brightness of the hand gripping his weapon was too distracting, so I covered it with armor. Kept polishing areas.


w.i.p. 3 - added a bit more color into the composition and vignetted it a bit so the eye would focus more on the figure and not wander off. He looked like he had no purpose, so I gave him some sort of weapon; that way he looks more like he's standing guard or something. I also built up the rocks.


w.i.p. 2 - The guy looked like he was tripping over, so I changed his pose. I also made him a "fire" guy instead of a "death" guy (or whatever). I flip the canvas periodically to see mistakes and have a fresh eye on the piece.


w.i.p. 1 - I started by quickly sketching a line composition and painting over it, keeping the basic colos in mind.