Sketches is a highly personal and intimate volume. It embraces sketches, idea outlines, notebook pages… Nothing in this book has been selected by chance, even if it does not follow any specific timeline. It contains what Javier Mariscal has wanted it to contain, using a selection process in which he himself has played with the images and shuffled them around until “they all sit happily with each other”. Mariscal, in addition to rescuing these pictures from their retirement in old folders, decided to add a narrative describing in words the way he draws and he regales us with snippets of his life “in pictures” that provide the clues to understanding why drawing has helped him live his life, as well as inspiring those of us who have had the good fortune to be at the receiving end of his talent.