How do you take the beginnings of an idea for a painting and develop it into a finished painting? There are three steps: research, development, and execution. I call it CSI for Painting: Concept, Scheme, Innovate.
Concept: The initial idea you have for a painting, or something you see've that's inspiring or you'd like to try, that's the concept. You do some research and investigation on this idea, to see what else you might discover, whether it's about a particular artist or paintings by different artists on a similar subject or in a similar style.
Scheme: Figuring out what you might do with the concept. The aim is to consider options and alternatives, develop and refine your idea(s), try out a few through thumbnails, sketches and/or painting studies.
Innovate: Mix what you now know with your creativity and usual artistic style, to come up with something that's yours as you create your full-size painting.
Next page: Let's look at each of these in more detail, starting with the Concept...
