Unlocking Your Creativity: How to Generate Ideas and Where to Find Inspiration

Chances are, somewhere along your creative journey, you have been stuck. You stared at a blank canvas, an empty screen, a piece of clay – and had no idea what to create, regardless of how many years of experience you have. Some form of creative block can happen to anyone in any sort of creative profession and, if not the end of the world, it can be pretty annoying.

In this blog post, I want to explore different techniques that can help you boost your creative thinking and summon artistic inspiration. I am by no means the ultimate expert, but I have been creating practically all my life and I have gathered some tips and tricks along the way, from my experience as well as books and social media by other artists.

Note: this is mostly geared towards visual art creators but even if you are not one you may still find a couple of useful tips in this post.

This is not going to be a step-by-step guide because, at least for me, creativity and generating ideas are not step-by-step processes. The post will feature a mix of different techniques and creative exercises, and some things may be repeated – but at different angles.

Following the tips will not lead to instant masterpieces and success (I wish!), but I’m hoping they will help you find inspiration and add to your creative process no matter at what stage of your artistic journey you may be. I will be absolutely thrilled if you find these tips helpful!

Let’s dive in!

Brainstorming

The main idea behind brainstorming is generating as many ideas as you can, without sorting through them, judging, prioritizing, or anything of the kind. This is one of my favourite techniques, partly because it can be combined with other creative exercises in so many different ways.

Let’s imagine that you are looking for an idea for your next collection of artworks. Take a piece of paper (or open your favourite notes app) and start writing things down. Silly ideas, weird ideas, ideas that are not quite realistic, cool ideas – don’t evaluate the thoughts that come to you, just write them down.

You can introduce a limit of sorts but don’t do into too much detail. For instance, maybe you want to create a collection of cat illustrations (yes, of course, I am going to use cats as examples in this post). Having come up with this limit, start brainstorming: cats of different sizes or colours, space cats, cyber cats, dancing cats, etc.

It may seem weird or hard at first but you just need to get your brain started and ideas will start pouring out, it will be hard to stop them. Yes, a lot of these ideas will be useless. But if you permit yourself to generate ideas with no (or hardly any) limits you are bound to come up with something interesting.

When I brainstorm, even if I do my best not to evaluate the resulting ideas in any way, I often immediately start seeing favourites – I just feel that some of those ideas are really worth creating.

Write down interesting ideas and details

This tip is a bit similar to the previous one but I promise, it is not exactly the same. The main idea is not to rely on your memory and write things down. Whether you had an interesting idea during brainstorming, another exercise, or just out of the blue, find a way to write it down or make a sketch. Most likely you have quite a busy life, and your work or your kids or lots of other things can easily distract you – and you can lose valuable insights.

Find a tool that’s convenient for you: a notes app, or a small notebook, and try to practically always have it nearby. Write down interesting ideas and observations on the go, and when you have time, they could be “analyzed” and turned into amazing artworks.

The important thing is to write things down so that you can later decipher them and know what you meant! It has happened to me a few times: I looked at my notes and had no idea whatsoever what I meant by them XD

If you don’t like writing, make sketches or create voice notes – the important thing is to capture those elusive ideas, and they will be waiting for you next time you have time to create or need to find inspiration.

The fundamental mechanisms of creativity

It turns out, there are only three main mechanisms of creativity – and if I remember the book I read about them I will link it here. The mechanisms, of course, don’t exist separately from each other, they can be mixed and matched as well as implemented on their own.

Dividing: we don’t draw the whole kitty, just its sweet nose or toe-beans; instead of all the characters of “Little Red Riding Hood” we draw only the wolf waiting in the forest. Try taking something that you wanted to draw but focus on a single part or fragment of it in one drawing.

Transforming: you may be drawing a cat but it is bigger or smaller than usual, or it has a very long body or unusually large ears. Don’t just draw what you see in the reference photo, change the sizes, the colours, the shapes – transform it in any way that comes to your mind.

Combining: draw a cat but with the wings of a pigeon and snake scales. Combine what can and cannot be combined, even if some of the results seem totally absurd.

These are, of course, simple examples, but they are only here to nudge you towards creative thinking – I’m sure you can generate ideas much better than these!

Here’s an exercise on combining elements to help you get started:

Take a few random words (but not too many, 2-5 words, you can use a word generator) and unite them in one drawing. There must be a way to do this even if the words don’t seem together at all. Even if no one ever sees your creation and it remains just an exercise, it can help you unleash your creativity.

Don’t fear the weird stuff

Speaking of combining the things that cannot be combined: don’t be afraid of weird results, especially at the “generating ideas” stage.

Don’t be afraid of creating weird works! Even if you reject this idea later and no sellable or exhibitable work comes out of it, it is still a great tool for your creative process.

One of the main perks is that when you allow your brain to CREATE – even if you only get weird and silly ideas at the beginning – it starts CREATING. Don’t be too critical of your ideas, write them down, make sketches, and even whole artworks. The more you do it, the better your ideas will get.

There are no rules and limits, especially when you are generating ideas. Give yourself the freedom to make things up!

Create artificial “limitations”

*A quick sketch working with a limited colour palette – just two complimentary hues*

I have heard some artists say that complete freedom scares them and they are used to working with limitations – well, creating limitations for yourself is also a great way to boost creativity.

Limit your colour palette or your set of tools. Draw only animals or characters of one gender. Go for realistic images only or, on the contrary, create only made-up, nearly abstract worlds. Draw different ways of expressing one feeling or the adventures of one particular character.

However, if you need to break the rules do break them. Say, you decided to use a limited green colour palette and created an awesome drawing. But you also see that it would be even more awesome if you add a few bright-pink accents… Don’t hesitate to add them! After all, those were the limits you created to find inspiration, and they can be bent if the artwork demands it.

Extraordinary things in ordinary situations (and vice versa)

Here is another technique. Take some ordinary/everyday place, for instance, your kitchen. What would happen if the Cookie Monster suddenly appeared in it? Or the characters from the last movie you watched?

You can also try doing it the opposite way: take something everyday and put it into an extraordinary context. For example, your fairly ordinary cat can find him/herself in a world of dragons and fairies fighting against evil.

Don’t wait for inspiration and great ideas

There is no use waiting for artistic inspiration or for the best idea ever to come to you – you might end up waiting for quite a while.

Don’t wait – get down to creating.

Take a beautiful reference photo and recreate it. Doodle whatever comes to mind, including abstractions. Copy a work by your favourite artist.

Yes, you read it right. Copying the works of others is great practice. It allows you to try out techniques and often leads to your own great ideas. However, you should never ever pretend that these copies are your original works, and if you post them credit the original artist and mention that this is just a creative exercise.

Gather a visual library and develop your visual literacy

I was told that kitties from this collection look like Simon’s Cat – if so, it was not a conscious decision but a result of my style being shaped by all the different cat drawings I have seen. Do you see the similarities?

You can copy the works of others for practice only. But you can and should look at the works of many other artists. To get inspired. To see interesting techniques (more on that below). To see that “this is also possible” and “that is also art”.

Look for artists and illustrators on Instagram and Pinterest. Check out portfolios on Behance and Dribble. On https://artsandculture.google.com/ you can see works of artists from museum collections, and you can search for works and filter not just by artist, but also by topics, genres, colours, and artistic media used.

Save the works you like the most on your phone or computer and come back to them for some artistic inspiration.

Notice peculiar features and “steal like an artist“

“If you copy from one author, it’s plagiarism. If you copy from many, it’s research.” – Wilson Mizner.

When looking at the works of other artists, pay attention to the techniques they use and to little details – and incorporate them into your works. Don’t copy one or two artists – create a melting pot of your ideas and ideas and techniques you’ve seen others use. (By the way, do read Austin Kleon’s book for more on this particular tip).

Here are just a few of the things you can make note of: how the artist draws shadows, how they texture, convey perspective, use colours or one colour in particular, how they draw eyes/hands/lips/noses… If you struggle with something, for instance, drawing fur, look at how different artists do it and try out some of the techniques.

Don’t be afraid to be “like all the others”

Everything has already been created and there are no original ideas. Naked women, cute animals, and magical worlds have been drawn over and over again.

Don’t let it stop you though. If you are not copying someone’s drawing or reference photo, you are always creating something that’s yours, adding your style and your vision to something that “has been drawn a thousand times already”.

While you sit there waiting for “the most unique and creative idea ever”, somebody is out there drawing it. Don’t wait. Start with the things that “have been drawn”. They haven’t been drawn the way you do it yet.

Try the principle of exclusion

If you can’t decide what you want to draw, try to do the opposite: come up with (and exclude) things you don’t want to or would never draw.

For instance, I don’t have the skill to draw realistic portraits, and they are not on my menu when I’m generating ideas. Maybe you don’t like nude art or cats that much. Or you aren’t into sci-fi cyberpunk stuff.

Gather an anti-menu of topics and ideas you are definitely not going to realize, at least not now – looking at them, it could be easier for you to see the stuff you actually want to create.

Make sketches and quick drafts

*This is a 10 minute sketch from my 2022 Inktober – and I love it!*

Generating and realizing ideas is an endless process, a snake biting its own tail, one cannot exist without the other.

You will never have the time to turn each idea into a complete full-scale artwork or collection. But if you only draw “big and serious works” and “cool ideas”, you won’t develop and shape your style as effectively as you could have.

The solution is to do quick sketches and small drawings. 5, 10, 15 minutes. It can even be a draft or a fragment of an idea. It will be great practice, and some of these drafts and fragments will evolve into amazing artworks.

Draw

Finally, it is important to just draw. With and without ideas and inspiration. For sale and just for yourself. When you have a lot of or little time. Draw things you are good at and things you think you can’t draw.

There is no way around it.

Final Thoughts

Phew, that was a long one! Thank you for reading till the end, you deserve a medal if you did ^_^

Exploring different techniques for generating ideas can help you unlock your full creative potential. I am hoping at least some of the ideas in this post will be helpful.

Which of these techniques have you used before? What were your results? What other techniques do you know? Share your experiences in the comments – let’s continue the discussion and support each other on our creative journeys!

P.S.: By the way, I have a donation page now! Don’t worry, I won’t post it too often 🙂 If you like my content, you can buy me a coffee to help me make more of it – and in the future, I’ll use the page to sell some digital products too, so stay tuned for that ^_^

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