Ok...this is STRICTLY my own opinion here, but it's been my experience (which isn't small) that MOST artists have their own way of working. There's an old joke about Photoshop artists that really applies...ask 10 different PS artists how to do the SAME thing and chances are you're gonna get 10 DIFFERENT answers, LOL! For some folks, yes...certainly they'll rough something out as a drawing before putting on the computer (particularly regarding graphics design and especially "story boarding" for animation, etc). In my case, while I CAN draw, I don't actually enjoy it...it's a very slow, physically painful and tedious process for me to say the least. In other words, there's no real right or wrong way...ya do what you need to do to get you where you need to go.
Now with that said, I will assume that you're fairly (if not completely) new to working with vectors, based on the questions you asked here....in other words, if I add something terribly obvious, please don't take any offense to it! LOL!!! As myron up there said, the image you have there is a really good one to start off with. I don't know if you've ever worked in Photoshop (or a similar program such as Gimp), however one principle most of these programs have in comment...raster or vector...is that they tend to work with "layers". As such, I would suggest you try to "see" the image you're planning (be it this one or something else) as such. For example, I've done a few vector "people portraits", so if I'm doing a face, then it doesn't make sense to start with nose, eyes or ears, but the basic shape and colors of the face, to create something of a background to build from. Again this is me personally, but I usually start with the large background shapes FIRST and tend to build from there. You CAN always go back and add stuff "behind" that later...one of the truly lovely things about working with layers, however, ALL art, be it hand drawn with a pencil or created on a computer with a mouse, has to start with that first line! With the image you have posted there, I'd probably start with the shape of that dark blue background, then build from there.
Ultimately I tend to think of "art" in precisely those terms...basic geometric shapes. If you look around where you are sitting right now, you probably have some form of monitor to read this...primarily a "rectangle" and it may have a "circular" power button, etc. You may have a coffee cup or can of pop or something near you...pretty much a "cylinder". I know the desk I'm sitting at right now has LOTS of cubes and rectangles...you get the idea. MOST things in this world can easily be broken down into such geometric shapes...squares/rectangles/cubes, circles/spheres, cylinders, triangles, etc.. I don't know if this helps, but I often to tell people "squint their eyes" and let their vision go out of focus for a bit, so they can see the shapes and NOT the actual "object".
Now as to vectors and Illustrator itself, I would tend to agree with Ray in that it's not all that intuitive for a lot of folks. In my case, I had spent YEARS working in Photoshop before I ever started messing with Illustrator, so there was a far more natural feel for me, however even there...yea...I had to wrestle with that Pen Tool for a rather long time before I finally got comfortable with it - kinda like dancing with a well greased hippo...ya just can't quite get your arms around it! LOL!!! That said, if you're not familiar with this already, Illustrator has a bunch a REALLY great tools...other than the pen tool...to get you started, including the "Path Finder"....VERY useful tool which I still use a great deal. As such, if you find you're having difficulty with a particular tool (like that pen tool)...seriously...try something else instead. Don't feel like you need to learn ALL of it at once...we all learn at different paces and in different ways.
Last but not least - HAVE FUN! A lot of folks seem to get SO wrapped up in the learning aspect of stuff like this, that they actually forget to enjoy themselves! LOL!!!
Good luck and I hope this helps!
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