How I Draw

Drawing as a way to think something through.

Traditional Sketching · Systems Thinking · Visual Metaphor · Embodied Cognition · AI-Assisted Exploration

CONTEXT

I don’t start with a perfect line. I start in the fog, with something I can feel before I can name it. My sketchbook is where I think. It’s a sandbox, a pressure valve, and a way to catch an idea before it evaporates. The drawings aren’t precious. They’re the first language I reach for when words are too linear.

APPROACH

I draw to understand something. A drawing asks: what shape is this idea, how hot is it, where’s the tension? I use metaphors because they hold more than a fact does: a ladder to nowhere, a box that opens into a bigger room, a hand holding something you can’t touch, a ribbon twisting into a logic diagram.

I draw relationships more than scenes: cause and effect, before and after, inside and outside. One object is rarely alone on the page.

When I use AI here, it’s to test a metaphor, try variations, and get past my own habits. Then I go back to the sketchbook.

OUTCOME

A good drawing gives people something to think with. It leaves room for them to walk in and bring their own read.

The sketchbook is where I stay honest. It holds the mess, the half-formed ideas and the contradictions. When I share pages from it, or the AI explorations that grew out of it, I’m showing you how I think.

RELATED WORK

The full sketchbook collection, with notes on which pieces had AI in the process.