Today, “So, You Think You Can’t Draw” will go live at our Patreon page. This series is designed to remind you that you can draw and that you are creative. There are seven short videos that will show the six shapes you need to draw anything. They will be released on a weekly basis and only available at Patreon.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Creativity
For Your Own Creative Journey, Follow ‘Why Bowie Matters’
In his book “Why Bowie Matters” (affiliate link), Will Brooker writes about his own creative journey in the context of exploring David Bowie’s life. He decided to walk in Bowie’s footsteps and to explore Bowie’s life in a physical manner. He distilled Bowie’s life down to a year’s worth of experiences, dressed like Bowie, traveled to the places that were important to Bowie’s development as an artist and icon, and experimented with the same talents that Bowie did. His experience can help you in your own creative journey.
Continue readingRussell Nohelty Kickstarts the Summer with Four Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books
USA Today Best-selling Author Russell Nohelty is in the midst of his latest Kickstarter: the “Wannabe Press Summer Fantasy/Science Fiction Novel Slate.” He took some time out of his schedule to answer some of our questions about reading, creativity and how he kickstarts the summer successfully with his latest Kickstarter campaign.
Continue readingKinder Egg Toys and Their Joys: Collectors’ Corner
Kinder Eggs have been around since 1974, but because of an archaic law Congress passed in 1938 regarding inedible substances inside edible substances, Americans have largely missed out on Kinder Egg Toys and their joys. I didn’t learn about Kinder Eggs until a trip to Vienna in 1991, where I instantly fell in love with and acquired dozens of them. Once I knew what I was looking for, there were places in the U.S. they could be found, but these places were selling them illegally and intermittently. Now, with Kinder Joy, American children can experience the joy of the toys. However, the chocolate part and the experience of cracking the egg open are missing.
Continue readingDirector David Lynch on Ideas and Creativity
(This article contains affiliate links. When you order something from Amazon through these links, we receive a small advertising fee. It doesn’t cost you any more.) According to “Encyclopaedia Brittanica,” David Lynch is an Oscar winning director best know for his mind-bending films, “Eraserhead,” “Blue Velvet,” and “Mullholland Drive.” The TV series “Twin Peaks” originally ran for two seasons in 1990-1991 and inspired the prequel “Fire Walk with Me”; he brought the series back to the small screen in 2017. Lynch has also had is paintings and photos exhibited in Paris. Where does he think ideas come from?
Daydreaming and Travel
In his interview with “the Atlantic,” Lynch said, “You can catch ideas from daydreaming…” If you want to use daydreaming as a way to get those ideas, you need to set time aside to do it. Too often, people are far too busy and stressed to have time to daydream.
“…or you can catch ideas from places. If you think that maybe a place can conjure ideas, then you have to go out of the house and go travel.” New ideas aren’t the only benefit of travel. Going to new places and immersing yourself in new cultures will help create flexibility in thinking and adaptability. It opens the mind and provides a new way to look at the world.
Enjoying the Process
Lynch said in “the Atlantic” interview, “A lot of artists think that suffering is necessary, but in reality, any kind of suffering cramps the flow of creativity… Happiness in the doing is so important.” When you enjoy the process, you get into the flow of doing the creative act. Researcher Csikszentmihalyi describes this flow state as “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”
Capturing Ideas
In a “conversation with Paul Holdengraeber,” Lynch says that when you get an idea: “you write that idea down, so you won’t forget it. And that idea that you caught might just be a fragment of the whole, whatever it is you’re working on, but now you have even more bait. Thinking about that small fragment, that little fish, will bring in more, and they’ll come in and they’ll hook on.” By capturing the idea, you earn the ability to get more ideas, and these ideas can lift you out of the drudgery to some “fantastic things.”
The Ideas You Love
In an interview with Russel Brand, Lynch says, “I fall in love with certain ideas and I want to realize those.” If you had to judge the ideas morally, “you would never be able to work… It’s the fantastic thrill of making them.” You have to be true to the idea, so that it will come out right.
Creativity is a meta-skill that you can apply across subjects. If you want to learn about becoming more creative in your area of expertise, subscribe to this blog and join our Patreon. My books “Disneyland Is Creativity” and “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity” offer researched-based creativity tips in a fun way. “Penguinate! Positive Creativity” and “Penguinate! The Disney Company” offer essays and short stories with activities at the end to help you improve your creativity.
Break from Your Internet News Feed for Greater Creativity
I listen to a lot of Disney Park atmosphere recordings on YouTube. It’s how I keep my stress level lower and improve my concentration while remaining relatively positive. The thing is, I just started doing this a couple of months ago with the implementation of self-isolation protocols. I watch How-to-Dad sometimes, and I’ve started Mousercising. I also watch Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert; however, when they went on vacation, my YouTube feed was taken over by Disney songs of all sorts. There are Disney Sing-Alongs, Disney Classic: A Magical Night, Disney mixes made by random people and a YouTube station that looks like it has radio call letters. All of this would be great if my only interest was Disney songs and their related videos. If it weren’t for a recent Mr. Rogers article, I wouldn’t find anything beyond what I’ve searched for in the past.
Continue readingHow to Improve Your Imagination Using Your Fridge
The first step to becoming more creative is believing you can, and the basis of all creativity starts with imagination. If you don’t believe you have an imagination ask yourself what your parents put on the fridge that you did. My mom put up my artwork and my poetry, no matter how bad it was because she wanted to recognize the effort and work that I put into creating something. She wasn’t interested in the quality; she was interested in allowing her child to grow. She even put up the only test that I ever flunked because I put work into flunking it. It felt good to have those things on the fridge and to see them every time I grabbed the milk for a bowl of cereal. It kept me in the habit of being creative. Use these tools and learn how to improve your imagination using your fridge.
Continue readingWhere Is This Generation’s Mr. Rogers and What Would He/She Say about the Protests?
When I was going through turmoil and my mom was at work, there was one place I could always go to find a sense of comfort, solace and calm: Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood (affiliate link). Mr. Rogers came on TV every day. He walked through the door, hung his jacket up, and changed his shoes all while inviting me to be his neighbor. His shows were informative, inclusive for their time, and full of love. Most of all, I knew at least one person liked me for who I am – not who I would be, not my consumer or employment status, not my current mood. Mr. Rogers just cared for me no matter what.
Continue readingThe Creative Process in Science Starts with Something Odd according to Asimov
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny!’
Isaac Asimov, Science Fiction Author
In Asimov’s quote about the creative process in science, he recognizes that the end of the discovery, the solving of a problem, isn’t where the fun of science lies. While coming up with a new way to do things has its rewards, it’s the road to that discovery that is more exciting. “That’s funny” signals the beginning of the journey to new knowledge. It’s the moment when a researcher notices that something is off about the results of an experiment. It’s when something has gone wrong. The scientist notices the problem and decides to investigate what happened and why.
Continue readingGetting Started with Innovation: Jumpstart Your Creativity with Brainstorming
Among the writing community, there’s a saying, “You can’t edit a blank page.” The idea is that no matter how hard you try, if there’s nothing to edit, you can’t do anything, so the most important thing is to write the words and worry about their format, punctuation and spelling later. Get the words on a page, and you can hire someone to fix them or fix them yourself. In the same way, you can’t improve on a non-existent idea or bring it to life. In other words, you have to have an idea before you can move on to the next step – implementation.
Jumpstart Your Creativity with Brainstorming
You don’t have to be with a group to brainstorm. In fact, some studies suggest that brainstorming is more effective when done alone. To get the most out of your single brainstorming session, set aside between 45 minutes and an hour. Anything shorter won’t yield the results you need for creativity. Turn off all your electronic devices and go to a room where you won’t be distracted by beeping, phone ringing, or other sounds that will break your concentration and flow.
Sit down with several sheets of blank paper and several pens or pencils; you might even use different colors. Think about your problem or what you want to accomplish, and write down all of the ideas you come up with. Now is not the time to edit or elaborate; you can do those later. There are different formats you can use; choose a style that works best for you. The first 20 minutes, you’ll most likely have mundane ideas that have been tried before. At about 60 minutes, you’ll be inspirationally spent. When you’re ready, you can go through the ideas and discard the ones that aren’t feasible or won’t work.
Brainstorming for Groups
Group brainstorming sessions should be about the same length of time. The goal and the rules should be explicitly stated: all ideas are welcomed, build on others ideas, no criticizing, and go for quantity. There needs to be a skilled moderator who can keep the group of 8 to 10 people on track, record all the ideas, and enforce the rules. When the session is over, someone who has the power to follow through should choose between ideas, implement them, and keep participants informed about the results. The reason most group brainstorming sessions fail is they don’t have an assigned person who can implement ideas and values the process.
More Creativity Tips
If you’d like more creativity tips, join our Patreon and sign up for our blog notices by email. You can also get more tips from “Disneyland Is Creativity” and the “Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” “Penguinate! Positive Creativity” and “Penguinate! The Disney Company” have activities to help jumpstart your creativity.
Penguinate! Positive Creativity 