Journey or Destination?

I was wondering, when you start a painting, doll, whatever your project is, do you plan it out, sketch it out? Or do you work on the fly? I've done both and it seems to depend on the project for me. Some things come to me in my mind completely whole and don't go away until I sculpt/paint them exactly as I see them in my mind. Others come to me in bits and pieces. I see part of it. Like the above painting I just finished, I saw the girl with the alligator on her head, with her umbrella, but I wasn't sure on the background. So how do you work? Do you then wait and let it peculate in your brain until it becomes clear? Do you sketch until you figure it out? I'm curious on how others work. I sketched her out, and still wasn't clear on the background, I thought I wanted vintage pages of text on the background, so I laid that down and sculpted her face and the alligator and sketched out the rest. Nope, that still wasn't it. So I played and along the way, the journey became clear. So by knowing the adventure from start to finish would I have missed the journey? What are your thoughts on how you work? Do you enjoy going straight to the destination or enjoy the journey to your finished artwork? xo Michele