I had to figure out the best course of action for:
the shape and posture of the dragon.
the whole composition so as to fit in all the elements I had in mind; find a right balance between each one of them, while trying not to overload the illustration with far too many details.
the colour palette (my favourite part).
The idea was to tell in one picture how I see the Wawel dragon enjoying its free time, when it is not out of its cave hunting living creatures. As my intention was to make a bookmark, I wanted the activity of reading books to be the central theme again; and therefore I set about depicting the dragon reading a book. What would the Wawel dragon like to read? And how would it read its book? Does it drink coffee, or tea? Or something else perhaps? In my humble opinion, a dragon needs a night cap, a blankie, a flashlight, and a hot beverage, in order to read comfortably. Add reading glasses to the list. That dragon loves hunting, and loves eating, so it will definitely be reading some cookbook!
The size of a finished bookmark is about 5x20cm, but to avoid feeling hindered by it (my eyesight is not that good, and my paintbrushes not that thin!), I chose to draw and paint on a larger piece of paper, which was about 9x31cm. Once done, I would scan the illustration, have its size reduced, and ready for printing.
It has been a challenge to endeavour to achieve a successful composition, because the format is rather unusual when one looks at the width in proportion to the height. The dragon would have to be drawn in a sitting posture. And I would have to keep the bleeds in mind (the trim area of the printing piece).