Notes

I did this timed head sketch for my digital head painting/analytical class.  The main point was to show that I don't skip the lay in stage.  The lay in gives you a preview of your final piece.  From there, you'll just have to nudge shapes here and there to fix it but no big changes are made.

Since it's timed I have to figure out what I wanna do in the lay in stage and the rest of the time is spent on prettying it up and disguising my overall design choices so it won't look so obvious.

Keeping your head in this mind set will help you to design clearly.  If you ask the right questions and resolve the overall design question, the rest is just icing on the cake.  Much like George said.