Sketch First?

Do you ever sketch out what you're going to make in advance?  Sometimes I do, and most of the time, I don't.

But if I'm in a Dr.'s waiting room and reading something that gives me ideas, I tend to draw out what I'm considering.  Here are two examples.  I was at a friend's house and we were leafing through magazines.  Obviously, they were not Martha Stewart or Better Homes & Gardens, but they did give me a few ideas for faces.  

I'm not good at drawing.  I think you can tell that right away.  But I can get the "essence" of what I want to convey down on paper.  

The sketch on the left was of a Tiki type face.  It was a wooden sculpture and I really liked the wide mouth with teeth and the smiling eyes.  I am thinking about trying a glass tiki carving that has a body attached too.  We'll see.

The other one has a look that is very appealing to me.  Eye glasses are always a challenge, so that was one thing I like, and of course the chubby cheeks are something that often occurs in my beads.  The mustache and goatee can turn this fellow into a Colonel Sanders holding a chicken, an Oktoberfest beer drinker in leiderhosen with a beer mug in each hand or even a mad scientist with crazy liquids spilling out of test tubes.

Now all I need is a little spare time in which to try them.....