This is how I usually work around a new subject: I read and then try to do some visual research, sketching main characteristics of interesting things I've stumbled on. For example, here I got interested in bears. Today there's 8 species of them. What's a bear? It's a carnivore - taxonomy gives you a clue to appearance and food preferences. Do all bears eat carrion/fresh meat? Nope, here comes great panda - a carnivore with almost exclusive herbivorous diet:) How do bears move? Their pace is unlike one of a dog or a cat, their posture is slightly arched as front legs are longer then hind legs. How do they communicate? What's their evolution?

So, I feel in a sketchbook with drawings and scribbles.

Then scan  pages I like best and pull it all together in Photoshop.

In the end, we've got a Bears of the World poster, available in 3 languages - Russian, English and Czech.