I have been trying to work faster and not overly render my monsters.

I've been trying the same, to be more efficient time-wise and not over-think and over-do things. There's this guy Marco Bucci I've seen some of his videos and tutorials. Is a painter and his digital works looks super organic, relaxed and painterly. This video may help you to add some variety and let go the over-render part. Keep up doing what you love :D