There is a process to everything. Every great plan, design, object, product, or image starts with an idea. Sketchbooks are where ideas flourish for the artist. It is also a document of seeing their thought process. There is an inherent raw beauty to sketches, and although some might be very simple in nature, the idea they convey or blueprint they might lay out isn't always. Here are some of mine.
I know this is hard to see, but this is how I started out my Tom Cruise piece. I was just freeflowing ideas and came up with this. The finished product won Studio Piece of the Year in 2006, and can be seen on the Illustration page.