One way to jump start your creativity

As artist we all usuall end up hitting a brick wall on creativity. Looking down at an empty sketch pad trying to come up with something original. Nothing comes to mind for you. You keep feeling like your going in circles in your mind. A creative block of the mind is stopping you. Trying to jump start the mind is a tricky process. Yes we can draw whats right in front of us and get a still life drawing. But that kinda takes the fun out of making something from your creative mind. Sometimes we have to kinda take a step back and look at things from a different angle. Take a breath and relax it's okay. All creative people will have their bad days on getting something down on paper. But once you get your mind going it's like opening up a dam full of water. The flood gates just need some tweeting to get them open easier.

Remember back when you were a kid and the world seemed new to you. The first time you saw really fluffy clouds. Hanging in the big blue sky. Just looking at the sky above you could see all kinds of shapes. Creatures emerging from the puffy world above. Animals would slowly come out in the playground in the sky. Think a lot of times as adults we forget to look up. As a kid our imaginations would run wild looking at the sky filled with clouds. This state of mind is what I'd like you to come back to. Back when the world was new to you. Use those images you see in the sky to create something on your sketch pad. Sometimes mother nature can give us a jump start to get the creative mind going. I know what your thinking. "But Edge what if we dont have any clouds in the sky?" That can make things a little tricky. So here is a different exercise you can do instead of using clouds.

Go to a blank sheet of your sketch book and look at it. The same way we used the clouds to get a jump start on seeing different shapes and objects. I want you to use the hand you don't draw with and use that to scribble different random lines and shapes on your paper. Now do the same thing you use to do with the clouds. Look at your lines till you see faces and shapes emerge from your drawing. Use that to get some of your creative juices flowing within you. And start to go over those lines and fill out those faces and creatures you see in the lines. If done right you'll have an interesting piece created when your done. You can see from the image I've attached is a similar method use to create it. Don't be afraid to make those random lines and scribbles on the page. It's all apart of the process. You do enough of these type of drawings you will losen up and slowly get past your creative block. You will realize that sometimes we think too hard when creating art. It's the simple things that get us in our mode.

Now if you like the way clouds or the randomness of things inspire you. You might want to look into a software called Alcemy that you can find on their website here http://al.chemy.org . This software is free and is very fun if you want some random inspiration like the way the way some clouds do for us. There are some examples of how other people have used this software to get some inspiration in their art. I have used this software a few times and it's very fun to see what you can come up with in the end.

If you will look down on Fig.1 you can see what a random type of output that the Alchemy software exported for me. It may not look like much at first glance and just seem like a lot of randomness and yes in a way it is just that. But if you look closer you might see that you will see shapes and other types of characters in the randomness. I usualy will take my image into photoshop and use the smudge brush to push and pull the characters out a little more. Sometimes adding a few highlights with the brush tool and painting in some elements. It can be fun just coming up with images using this method.

Fig.2 you can see how images and shapes start to form as you go along. In the end you could come up with an interesting piece of art. This method can help push you into thinking creatively.

So I feel if you have a sense of humor you will enjoy this video link. It's about thinking creatively. It's not recommended for kids if you think seeing puppets means it's okay for them to watch. I do find it funny they also use my cloud method in this video.

I hope this gives you some inspiration. Your drawing doesn't have to be perfect either. Have fun with it and enjoy your time drawing. I hope this helps you in getting over your creative rut. I know I enjoy using this scribble method to get images started. And if you have a friend around that enjoys drawing try making the lines for them and hand them your paper full of scribbles. Let them draw a bit and after a while hand it back to you. Do this a couple of times taking turns drawing on that page with the scribbles on it. In the end you'll be surprised on what you both come up with. Who knows maybe you inspire each other to do something more with your art. So get out the art supplies and get ready to make some art!