Great work! Thank you for putting the design into an emblem. I am so excited about the possibilities in entries #11 and #9. I love how you worked to merge the different design elements into an emblem. I didn't like the plants on the side of the person in #10 because it looks like they are coming out of the person, with a strange effect.
Try putting the person's arms up in the air, think that they are stretching in the morning, looking at the rising sun, excited and inspired to start a new day, looking radiant, light emanating from them. Here is an image I love:
http://blogs.glam.com/glamspirit/files/2008/10/sun.jpg but arching back like the man is in this image:
http://www.wonderhowto.com/images/gfx/gallery/633892641325102973.jpg. I actually put an image up in our project brief which is perfect but I cannot find where I got it from so please check that out.
Also, I don't think the colors work as well in the emblems of #10 and #11. It reminds me too much of farming. But I love how it looks with #9. Even though 9 isnt an emblem, I ranked it high because it is important that the design feel bright, and I like 9's elegance. So maybe its the heaviness of the brown and green in the emblems, it feels too "grounding" and not as "light." Let's try lightening up the colors a bit. The overall image should radiate light...
Finally, check out this image.
http://www.belurmath.org/image/the_emblem_ramakrisha_order.jpg I like how part of it rises up out of the emblem. Maybe the person's hands can rise up, or the tip of the house.
I am going to sit with the images some more and offer more feedback soon. Thank you so much!