Ahhhh…how tricky it is to control and access creativity from within the creative mind. Sometimes the noise of everyday life makes it difficult to turn the chatter and stress off. It is especially difficult when we need to produce, whether it is for fun or for a client. Channeling creative energy and ideas, especially new ones, into our work is a topic that leaves some people thinking and feeling they don’t have one creative bone in their bodies. I don’t believe people are one way or the other and either creative or not. I believe some people choose to embrace their creative side while perhaps others don’t recognize when they access it. I think for some people, it’s a form of denial, or maybe they are comparing their creative side to others.
Today, I sat in my office trying to turn up my own creative mind a few notches for my clients. What exactly does it take for a person to find that “happy place” where the creative juices, thoughts and energy flow? I know I have met quite a few designers, web designers and artists in my career, and this is a topic that they discuss frequently. It is also a topic we see often at industry conferences since most of us seem to be interested in other people’s creative processes. There are a few strategies common to designers to quiet the left side of the brain and fire up the right. Of course, there are many ways, but these five are my favorite to jump start my creative process in a hurry.
5 Ways To Help You Access Your Inner Creative Mind
1. Music
Whatever music you choose, music always creates magic. Create a new “studio” play list and really mix it up. My taste is eclectic and random. Here is a cool lyric video of “Hurricane” by Theory of A Deadman, which is a band I like to listen too. They are pretty good in concert too.
2. Beverages
Maybe it’s coffee, whiskey, milk or something only you know about. I won’t judge you, and since you are in your own space, who cares what we think – CHEERS! This is a photo of some Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey that my happy husband won! What happens in bourbon country stays in bourbon country (yes, I live in the birthplace of bourbon).
3. Pen, brush, pencil to paper
YES! Whatever drawing tools you prefer…use them to draw something, anything, maybe even just a still life like you would have drawn when you attended an art school or class.
4. Get dirty
Take your normal vanilla creative process and change it, or literally get dirty and play in the mud with clay. Get off the computer and try different mediums. Or, use a Wacom tablet, embrace old school techniques, and really create something new.
5. Rip the heck out of it
Take new or old art pieces, sketches, doodles or whatever you like and re-imagine them as something else. Create a collage or just literally trash them (or recycle them). This is a collage by artist Eileen Downes. She uses bits of paper in a painterly way to make collages in her own unique style. She has perfected her method over time. This is a custom piece titled, “My Favorite Red Heels.”
It’s funny how the creative mind works when we try different things, use different ways to process information, stop thinking, stop reading, turn the computer off, and get our hands working and creating. I find that sometimes when I access this space, it becomes like a faucet that I have to unplug quickly because the ideas are flowing so fast that it becomes difficult to process them all. How do you manage your creative process? How do you access this scared place when you need too? How do you access your inner creative mind?
Image Credits: [Eileen Downes Studio] [Esquire]
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