I try to keep a legal pad at my work desk at all times, so that whenever I get stuck or bored, I can just move over to the legal pad to keep my hand in motion, making marks until my brain gets back on track. (I learned this technique from Lynda Barry.) I use a legal pad and not a nice sketchbook because it’s cheap and I don’t feel like I’m wasting good paper on my crummy scratches.
Every once in a while I’ll come up with a doodle I really like:
And sometimes a podcast or a video will compel me to start taking notes, like with this excellent speech by Richard Nash on the future of publishing:
I prefer index cards — they’re a little sturdier and more portable.
A piece of paper and a pocket digital camera is the best diagramming software I’ve ever discovered.
Oh, I am a big fan of the index cards…