When I paint or draw I work from a random starting point, (Usually the main focus of the image.) and finish as I go. This is, according to past art professors, a very bad way to do art as it's very easy to get into unfixable art faux pas... To which I reply, "Yeah?! Where's your messiah now?!". But seriously, don't think you need to work this way to make great art. It's simply the way of painting that suits me and is what I'm accustomed to.

At this point I'm working exclusively in Painter. I've modified the "Sharp Chalk" tool under "Dry Media" so that it has a little more bleed and a little less saturation which gives me that great painterly look I'm after.