Scatterbrained journey...

I'll admit...
Generally my creative process seems to be a bit "scatterbrained" to say the least. Its not that I havent tried to be a bit more "organized" as I create, but Ive just found that when I just "let go", more or less, I tend to like what I'm doing a lot more. Being more guteral seems to feed the artistic urge I get. Lately, Ive been trying to do something a little different than the quick color splashes over lineart that have dominated nearly every post on this blog. I've recently decided to go with more of a painterly approach in Photoshop to my last few personal pieces, eliminating all line art. I ended up liking my last attempt (which is quite rare), so I thought it might be interesting to document a few of the steps as I create my next one. I'll consider this a learning process for myself... in hopes of creating things a little quicker perhaps.
I grabbed this rough sketch from my last sketchbook Glam, and decided to see if I can ruin it:

I started by cleaning up the sketch a little bit. Fixing proportions that I thought were off and pushing a few more shapes. Somewhat redrawing it. Making sure I'm happy with the structure before I paint. I also realized that with "painting" in mind I eliminated somethings that I would normally do with just a sketch or doodle, like the swirly little loops in her hair that just flow out when I sketch aimlessly.
Here's a look at both the fixed drawing and how it compares with the original sketch. Ill use the one on the right as more or less of a guide as I paint over the top:


I found out this is'nt the only time I make changes to my drawings. I try to limit them but constantly play with shapes and proportions while I'm blocking out color shapes. I try to stay away from anything too major though. It sucks to have to change the structure half way through the painting. That isn't very practicle. More often than not I have to just accept where it's going, even if I may not be fully happy. Learn... move on... and apply to the next one...
The process I'm taking here may be a direct result of working in Flash a lot. I've blocked out the shapes in solid colors, like I would a vector drawing, keeping parts of her body on seperate layers. You can see I've made even more changes to the look of the flower petal, stem and wings:


Chances are these arent what the final color will be. As a proceed I feel it out and usually have some sort of revelation, or something"clicks" and everything changes, Sometimes drastically.
Here's one with a slight background added:Now comes more of the fun part for me. Once I have everything relatively blocked out, I start more of a painterly approach over my shapes. Adding textures with different brushes and the magic of photoshop tricks. I'll add updates as I get it done.
J...