Creative Play
Creative play is paramount for me as an illustrator to keep my brain and ideas sharp.
There is an innate need in me to explore beyond my developed style, to try out new tools and see what else the illustrative medium has to offer. Similarly, finding new ways of thinking and delving into how I can take a simple object and draw it in as many different ways as possible, rinsing my creative juices and what’s possible.
Today I am looking at the lightbulb, an international symbol for ‘ideas’ that usually appears above a characters head. I think the trope comes from cartoons and comics. This is at least was my introduction to the symbolism of the lightbulb.
This exercise is one of my absolute favourite things to do as an illustrator. I think I got the idea for the from illustrator, Christoph Niemann, when he was featured in season one of the Netflix documentary series, Abstract. If I remember correctly, it was an exercise he was set as a student. I thought this was a great idea and adopted the idea myself to help with my own idea generation when faced with creative commissions and self-initiated passion projects.
Beyond illustration, I believe this exercise helps me with whatever kind of brief comes my way, be that illustration or even graphic design.
My process always starts with a pen and paper. Computers for me, are simply the final tool to piece things together. The magic of coming up with ideas always starts with a scribble. No matter the brief or the final outcome, illustration, logo, brochure etc… this is how I start. Before I even touch a pixel, I explore how I can take the purpose and goal of a brief and then go full steam into how I can communicate it visually, hopefully leaving no creative stone unturned. I’m always looking for a way to depict an idea in a way that hasn’t been done before. Especially for client work. Ultimately, people aren’t just paying for my ability as a mark maker but also my brain. I have more to offer as a conceptual thinker and this exercise keeps me brain sharp in order to do a good job.
It’s also a fun thing to do. I simply love being creative and what we illustrators and designers can do is limitless really. To think I do this for a living now as an adult, would make my younger self very proud I’m sure. Heck, I’m proud now for sure and so you should be too if you’re lucky enough to have be a creative professional.
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Keep playing folks and thanks for reading!
Pete :)
