These are some progress snapshots of one of my pieces that I used for my Digital Illustration class at Brainstorm School in Burbank, CA. They highlight the process of going from a rough color block-in to more defined shapes and texture.
I often take screenshots of my paintings so I can see how they evolve which has also proved useful in helping me to explain my thought process at each step of the painting to my students. If you're interested in the class it not only covers a lot of digital techniques but also the basics of painting and image making. www.brainstormschool.com/courses
As for the key points behind this break down here goes:
1 - I try to cover the entirety of the canvas in basic swatches of color that best approximate the local color and value. Don’t worry about small details or shapes. Just block it in.
2 - At this stage I start defining the more important shapes and silhouettes as well as blocking in the bigger details. I also start blocking in other compositional elements like the hand rail.
3 - Now I start going forward with more light logic and painting the forms as they would be affected by the predominant light source which in this case would be sky light.
4 - I refine the painting and start focusing on the details. I also decided to remove the hand rail posts as they were making the image too busy. Last but not least I worked out the background details which I always intended to leave rough and impressionistic.