Elves let me put a character somewhere specific, and that is what these pages really are: small scenes. A forest elf making friends with a caterpillar, a winter elf indoors where it is warm, an elf girl with a baby owl, another in emerald tropics.
There is usually an animal involved and usually something happening. That gives you more to color than a portrait does — foliage, fabric, fur and skin on one page, each needing a different hand.
Pointed ears, mischief, and pre-shaded grayscale so the light in the scene is already decided.