Before beginning work on the illustration, the client sent me an email with some general guideline.

Following is the info from the client:
To give you some backup, it is Herculean Task #3:
The capture of the fleet- footed, golden-horned deer.
The line that goes with it is:
"We know what it's like, impressing a group of fast track executives" So we want the beautiful deer to be the highlight of the piece.
•Make him magnificent and majestic, beautiful and impressive.
•Perhaps, gold horns can be shown with a glow.
•The image could be leaping over a stream (since that's where Hercules ultimately killed the beautiful beast)
•We do NOT want to show the beast actually being killed or captured.
•We still need to see Hercules involved in the action somehow. Perhaps we can see him in chase or in the distance pursuing it. I am open to your ideas on this.


With this information in mind, I did the rough sketch on the right, along with a couple more. These roughs are done very quickly, with just enough information to communicate the idea.