Ugh ... I think every art school has its issues. Mine is full of awkward people. Most ppl who can barely draw a hand have gotten through their life-drawing classes and into their concentration curriculum ... I don't get it. But yeah, I know how you feel, I have so many issues with SCAD, too.
Both, kinda ... Initially, I usually know what colors I'm gonna use ... but most of the time I go back and just play with them to see if I can get something more interesting, even if its not a "good" color scheme. I try to keep in mind to use saturated, light and warm colors to stand out specific parts of the image ...
This is what the first one looked like at one point. I wanted the face to be the focal point of the image, so I made him a red to stand out against the blue background ... as you see in the other version, it doesn't really have the same affect. The background overwhelms the figure ... it almost moves your eye "around" the face and doesn't move you "to" the face. So in turn, initially it was probably technically better ... I do like it, but I liked the color combinations better in the more recent one ... I should probably stick with the first one.
Comps help a lot too ... I always do comps ... I know they are annoying as hell, but even if you have one it makes the direction such a breeze. Atleast at that point, you know your lights, darks or your focal point. I'd use NOTAN, too.
