The first step, as always, is the draft - and here's where this diverges from my usual way of going about layouts. Almost always, I draw them with pencil and paper, pen, whathaveyou - blocking everything out that way. But, that's because I know pretty much where everything goes (and it's obvious when I don't!).
So, it begins with the incomprehensible sketch.
...Which is then fleshed out. At this stage everything is a representation of an object that can be moved around and placed wherever, with absolutely minimal detail.
And after that, so begins the actual detailing.
Method
The really big advantage of doing a master layout digitally is mainly in layers; each object you can rough out, place on its own layer, and be able to adjust and move everything around with ease. It's an aid in tweaking the composition in the early stages, and for something you're still just throwing together, that's pretty rad.
For ease of detailing, step one: select the object you want to flesh out.
Step two: pull that object into its own file, and colour it.
Aaand after collapsing the layers, drag and drop it back onto your main image.
This is only a basic rendering of the objects - lighting sources have yet to be added to the image, and that's a step that's further down the production line for me.
