Sagittarius - Detail Phase (Patreon)

What's strange about the way this painting came together, was how much the values on the focal point changed this late in the process. I guess it still basically looks the same as it did, hopefully a bit "better", but the reason it looks better is not just because there is more detail.

The fit and finish of the painting is ultimately not what gives it its power. The increased sense of scale and drama comes from subtle shifts in value and temperature. Those elements can exist at the beginning of the painting, assuming that I have a clear vision on how to execute them effectively.

My guess as to why I'm making changes late in the process this time is because the painting has come together too much like how I imagined it. Typically, I'm searching for the piece on the page, but this time around I felt like I kind of already had the vision in my head. Whenever that happens, I'm skeptical. That's not how painting works. 

To get to the good creative choices, I needed to let that image fade away and learn what the painting wanted to do on its own, outside of my head. That's basically where we are now. Everything is more or less solved, but I've laid out a fairly detail heavy background. Lots of rendering is in my future.