Creativity is not just about how good of a designer you are, it’s about how well you can solve problems and find connections between seemingly unrelated ideas.
How to Have Creative Ideas
There is a great book that I did a review on a while back called How to Have Creative Ideas
IllustrationClass.com
Von Glitschka is a fantastically talented illustrator. He knows that you need to take time to play and follow “creative rabbit trails” as he likes to call them. Doodling is a great way to do that! Von includes a short PDF with his downloads called Why Doodle? where he lists the benefits of doodling, including improving your drawing and abstract thinking abilities and, of course, it’s FUN!
Glitschka has developed and shared many creative exercises via his tutorial blog, IllustrationClass.com. I remember doing these squiggle line doodles with my mom when I was little. She would draw a line and I would have to make something of it. The only rule we had was that it couldn’t be a face (that’s usually too easy!).
(yes, those are my doodles. The red line was the squiggle given to start).
The following Doodle Sheets should get you started:
Have a go! What will you come up with? Check out his other Creative Exercises, too!
Doodlage
Speaking of doodling, how could I not mention RaShell and her fabulous doodle-centered blog, doodlage? I love all the images she shares on her blog and because of her, I’ve started trying more doodles myself, especially in long boring meetings (sshh! Don’t tell!).
I’ve noticed that doodling teaches me to not be critical of my initial ideas. It has taken practice, but I’m letting my mind and hand wander more and more and it helps me be motivated to do more thumbnail sketches before moving to the computer to flesh out comps for design projects. The more thumbnails I do, the more I push myself to keep coming up with different layouts and different design styles, the better the final product is.
Thanks, RaShell! You’re an inspiration!
Before & After
Tom’s goal with his creative thinking blog is to encourage people to look at familiar things in a different way. The “What Do You See?” posts are an excellent visual representation of this goal. Tom takes a familiar outline (a guitar case) and challenges readers to come up with other ideas of what could occupy this relatively simple shape.
Similar to Von’s squiggly line exercise, but with a twist!
Image Streaming
Have you ever heard of image streaming? I hadn’t before I found Creative Thinking With… (excuse the design because the content of this site is spectacular).
I haven’t tried out this Image Streaming yet, but I think it could be particularly helpful with us visual folks. The Creative BOO! would be especially useful! You have to take time out of your busy schedule to relax and let your mind wander to generate great ideas, but you know it’ll pay off!
Are there any other creative exercises that you like to use to stimulate ideas and figure out innovative solutions to the problems you’re facing? How have these methods helped you?
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oh, I love that “What do you see?” post and the B&A blog. I better subscribe to that blog. thanks for sharing it with us, Lauren.
I really like how you always challenge us with exercises to boost our creativity.
I used to doodle a lot when I was in school and uni. All my notebooks were covered in doodles
I also like to doodle when I listen to a music that I like, just let the imagination flow and draw whatever comes to my mind. I must admit though that I haven’t been drawing much lately, which is a big pity. Recently I bought some new sketchpads, pencils, paint, so I will definitely push myself to start drawing more. Thanks for the boost ;)
uhhh wonderful post - just wonderful!
Excellent post!
And how funny…I just became the president of the graphic design club at my school, and have organized some events called “Cultivate Your Creativity” where we do exercises to help students become better designers.
I think I’ll be able to use some of the links you posted for those creativity times. Thanks!
Interesting topic!
There are loads of other methods to cultivate your creativity. I am currently doing a course on creativity at uni, and we have this book with a chapter on ‘ideation’.
Some methods are to look at a problem from the point of view of a different ‘career’, and to come up with new solutions by choosing a random word and connecting it with your problem.
You don’t have to ‘be creative’ to be creative, you just need to know how to use the tools.
great article! I’ve been thinking lately that i need to get back into the habbit of doodling in a few different ways.. pencil, ink & quill, photocopier fun and straight into the computer.. working kind of killed those habits in me, which is something I find my self mourning more often lately
doodles can lead to such great and hidden ideas.. I had a teacher who once made me fill up books and books of illustrations.. once when we were near completion of a project, I wasn’t happy with where it was going and so the teacher made me flick through the pages of doodles I’d done.. only a couple pages in he stopped and made me explain this tiny illustration in the corner of a page.. i ended up running with this dodgey little sketch and it became the corner stone of a whole rebranding assignment we were doing.. so doodles can lead to great things
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I think this is one of my favourite posts that you’ve written so far Lauren.
When I was a kid there was a show on TV called Mr Squiggle, starring a puppet with a pencil for a nose. Kids would send in a squiggle which he would turn into picture, in the same manner as the squiggle line game you’ve mentioned. As a little kid who LOVED drawing, this was a great show and the game is a really good one.
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Vivien,
Yeah, I thought the “What do you see?” was cool too! I’d never seen that before. I have been practicing my doodles with Von’s squiggle exercises. It’s been fun!
Esben,
Which was your favorite kind of exercise?
Elizabeth,
What great timing! Maybe you can start a Flickr group of your creative sessions!
Eivind,
The random word method sounds like Edward de Bono’s exercises from How to Have Creative Ideas. I like what he says in that book “Creativity is a skill that can be learned, developed and applied.” It’s so true!
Alex,
Now that is an awesome story! I always save my thumbnail sketches because sometimes a job will get cancelled only to be taken up later but they want a new design, or I’ll have a similar job come up that I can repurpose some old sketches for. The former happened recently and I went back to my thumbnails and found a layout that I liked better than the one I was working on previously. Hopefully the job gets finished this time!
Tracey,
Thank you for the kind words. You know, this was such a last minute idea… just goes to show that those can sometimes be the best! Give it a Stumble if you think it worthy :D
Great! I agree with the doodling… it does help you to appreciate your initial ideas squiggles more in the design process
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Well doodling is fun, but I’ve never thought about it in such way. Lately I been reading some of Andrew Loomis books, which isn’t that fun, but a great resource :)
Great points made, LaurenMarie, another one I try (and really, it doesn’t often work) is to sketch or draw with your left hand (or the hand you usually don’t use) to see what comes up. The odd mistake can lead you down a path that otherwise you may not have gone down. Hope that makes sense!
LaurenMarie
There are several methods that are repeated through the creativity literature, I have seen this in DeBono too.
Did you read his book How to have a beautiful mind? It’s a good one!
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I recently came across your creativity blog and frankly it compliments my podcast at the Creativity Studio. I would love to do an interview session and have my listeners meet you.
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Lauren, you might be interested to see this post about a drawing book for kids which will be released next year.
Mel,
Sure does!
Esben,
I think doodling can do different things for each of us. For me, it helps me be less critical of my ideas and just learn to let them flow.
Rob,
It makes sense, though I’ve never tried it! Hmm… squiggle line exercise plus left hand… there’s gotta be something there!
Eivind,
I haven’t read that one yet, no. Another for the wish list!
Rich,
Thanks! Let’s talk via email.
Tracey,
Hehe, that’s cool! Thanks for sharing :)
nice article and good resources. Thanks for sharing.
Regards
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