From Thought to Imagery (Part 1)

Some have expressed interest in the techniques I use when it comes to bringing the realm within my mind to life. How exactly does an idea become a finished piece? This is, of course, one of the main reasons I decided to start this blog in the first place... Aside from showing the world some of my art, and going into the details of my thought process and the symbolism behind a finished piece, I wanted to show how a piece actually comes to be.

The first step in creating a picture, for me, is that moment of inspiration. There really is no telling when exactly my muse will whisper the idea into my head. Sometimes the idea will come to me in a dream or while listening to a song, and sometimes the idea will come to me completely out of nowhere at all... but when the idea strikes, sometimes it is difficult for me to focus on anything else. Other times an idea will enter my head, but the process of translating it to an image becomes quite a challenge, so the idea may sit for a while before it is something I can compose. The idea begins as a feeling or a phrase and I begin to shape that idea in my head into some sort of a scene.

Once the idea is there and I can sort of see how to convey it into imagery I get out my sketchpad, or sometimes a just scrap piece of paper when the idea comes to me quickly. For me, when the idea strikes, sometimes its best to sketch it out quickly before the idea disappears into oblivion.

I have, at this point included a few of my sketches that I have not yet transformed into finished images. At this point I would like to make things a bit interactive and ask for an opinion on which one I should use to continue this "Thought to Imagery" sort of lesson...

Sketch #1 "All She'd Never See"


Sketch #2 "Timeless"


Sketch #3 "But a Memory"


Fear not my decision, for each of these sketches will become finished images in time... But which will be the first to be completed? Which will be the first image to gain a step by step from start to finish documentation here on this blog? I would like to hear your opinions.