August 13, 2025 - The prevailing wisdom is that a painting starts with a sketch. My own methods are a little less direct; usually the beginning of one of my paintings looks something like this: I've found this sort of written concept exploration is damn near essential to making a good painting - first and foremost because it helps me avoid making the kind of rote images ("girl standing badassedly with sword; flames optional") with which the fantasy art world is already well-supplied. More surprisingly, it does quite a bit of the heavy lifting for a painting. It's a lot easier to get away with a bit of broken anatomy or an imperfect inkwash if your image is ABOUT something - keeping the eye and mind of the viewer too busy to dwell on the way you drew an…