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Carol, right now I have a commission that's large(40" x 80") and compositionally complicated, so I'm doing a same-size 'cartoon' on brown paper in charcoal. I'm doing this for me but I'm letting the client take it home to make sure it's the right size for the room. If I have to add or decrease by a couple of inches I want to know now, before I make the canvases.
Making a color study would be a major waste of time for me in this case. I rarely do this anyway, mostly because I'd rather spend the time just drawing the client from life and making written notes to myself in the margins (you know, "YO + gray + white - add cerul? - v. ruddy cheeks, NY + IR" - this helps me later).
Anything more than a head and shoulders, I usually show the client a thumbnail (sometimes color, sometimes not) which is small (5" x 7", say) and not much detail in the head because the client will focus on likeness right away and I don't want them to see that in the initial stages, I want them to focus on composition and size.
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