Thumbs and some adjustments to a character regarding ear types. Commissionwork for Dragonhuman in progress. Can't post the other yet! :)
What I try to do is come up with basic lines of motion and simpler forms early on, try to "crop" the image ahead of time to get a general idea for how the scene will work. From here I will present a few to the commissioner if I am working with someone else and decide on the better ones.
If one of them is a hit I work with that, if not I take the feedback, revise and provide a new set with the new parameters.
These don't take more than five minutes absolute tops per little idea.
For changing or adjusting characters I'll create a super fast reference of the model with things that will stay the same, and copy it multiple times, changing the part in question that needs alteration. If it's a whole new design I'll take the themes and just go and branch out in different directions, often referencing different animals and shapes for each one, including a few that go pretty far from the source just to see how it works. Sometimes the far-out ones are more of a hit than the initial idea.