Here are a couple of sketches from different stages of a project. I don't know how everyone does it, but I often start my paintings with a really rough thumbnail sketch, like the one to the right. In this case, this was the first layout I did, and it ended up being the composition that I used in the final.
The sketch below is from later in the process. I had more or less figured out how the figure in the middle would be posed, and what he would wear. This is the sketch just before I worked out the final shading, so it's still largely dependent on outlines to define the form.
All artwork on this site (c) 2001 Patrick McEvoy