I usually go through many pages in my sketchbook to brainstorm, or even go straight to the point of pen tool and immediately develop the shapes I saw in my head. And I even often display square colored swatches on the side of my Illustrator file, just to see how certain colors mesh well together. I'm always working off of my flash drive, since I'm always on the move and work on various desktops and laptops. I'm usually powered by coffee or tea, and inspired by art, so I almost always have art books lying around. On my right, there is always a huge, old, bulky, busy-body of a printer my dad gave me that was probably from his college years. Usually, I work with lots of noise; depending on how I feel, half of my work screen will have Netflix running, or iTunes playing. Most of the time, depending on the month, my table is covered with sticky notes filled with reminders, and if that's already not enough, I also put it on my phone's calendar, so there's always a pop up. Even when I'm on my computer, I leave my phone around mostly to see if there are any new notifications from Behance. And when it finally comes to designing, I do a lot of research if necessary and work with a plethora of layers and often sit thinking long and hard about how to compose the piece I'm working on. The very next step is usually when I transfer my vector-based images into Photoshop, and explore ways to add textures, lighting, and depth. The final excitement is when I get the chance to print out my designs on a 8.5' in. x 11' in. or 17 in. x 22’ in. premium matte presentation paper, to one, find any flaws that I didn't catch on the computer, and two, to finally be able to hold the finishing piece in my hands. I really like the idea of seeing this image I've been working on, on the screen for so long, and then seeing it come out on paper or poster paper. That ability to hold the piece is precious to me.
