I’m sometimes asked if I do pencil sketches of work before moving into wire frames and comps. Indeed, I do. Though not with pencil. I tend to use bold markers—usually black, sometimes gray, and never color—on marker paper. It’s actually the same paper that an art director I worked for in high school taught me to use, and I’ve never dared trying anything else. I tend to stockpile these pads in the event they stop production. If they ever do stop making it, and my supply runs out, the world will have officially come to an end for me.

These sketches are my way of solving structure and pattern problems. They're rough on purpose, and only rarely are seen by a client. But they serve their purpose as a first step in organizing my thoughts.