When I am working on a piece I always take photos of each stage of completion. This is a tool my painter mentor taught me. It enables me to see the work as it develops and identify what is working and what isn't. If I get stuck it also allows me to go back and try to track where things started going wrong. These are the records of how Team Roping was created. I always start with composition sketches to work out the design and layout of the piece. From there I often do a small color sketch painting. Doing a small version usually helps me figure out my values and color schemes and enables me to tackle areas that might be a problem when painting is blown up to larger version.
Preliminary sketch.