I decided to focus on an intimate, smaller section of the fountain for this piece instead of trying to capture the whole thing (maybe next time), so I picked the triton on the right side of Neptune.
The idea of the composition is to have the background in shadow so that the highest contrast (and focal point) will be on the man and horse. Then, the viewer's eye should travel with the water down over the rocks to the pool, then back up to the top again.
I use watercolor pencils to sketch out the composition because they mostly dissolve once I paint over them and the tiny marks that remain add little splashes of subtle color to the finished painting. One tip if you decide to use watercolor pencils as well: erasing them with clear water and a brush usually works better than using an eraser. You can see some areas where I've used water to blend some of the sketch lines and I've left the color.
I typically sketch all the shapes lightly first to get the placement right, then come back in with darker lines to refine the details. I don't include every detail at this point, just enough to know where the major shapes and white/light spots are.
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