Cheat Codes For Creativity - Inspiration Boost

Am I being creative enough?, I asked myself this question yesterday while watching a few films that blew my mind. I'm always thinking about what to create, especially now that I'm making a game. Competition is fierce in the game industry, and so far the best thing I can do is to be as creative as possible. So I wonder, how can I push my creativity beyond everything I could even imagine? I guess writing down a few ideas might help, so this article is meant to do that and share my exploration with you.

What is creativity or being creative?

In a few words, creativity is the ability to generate novel and useful ideas, solutions, or artistic expressions by combining imagination and critical thinking. Although the definition is pretty clear, the content of those ideas or solutions is always changing depending on the goal.

What inspired me to be creative?

Going back to the films I was watching, one of them was Gurren Lagann. The story started in a very humble way with characters fighting with robots on Earth, and suddenly galaxy-sized giant robots were fighting far in the universe. The concept was absolutely abstract and absurd, pushing beyond what I guess I was expecting to see.

So, being creative also means breaking the expectations you have. Once you set a goal, you momentarily ask yourself how you can make that goal greater, almost absurdly beyond even what you feel capable of doing. This might be intimidating and unrealistic, but having those thinking exercises helps put your mind far from your comfort zone.

So I guess a good way to find that "creativity spark" is by looking at what others have created, especially those who push themselves way beyond the abstraction, creating weird yet compelling art. For me, it was this movie. What does that trick for you? Leave it in the comments so I can also get an inspiration boost from you.

How do I make creative art?

The goal of "being creative" might be inspiring but is insufficient for solving every problem. When I'm inspired by others, I try to think, 'Why am I inspired?' and the first thing I notice is feelings. I feel surprised, I feel energetic, I laugh, I like the chaos, and so on. Noticing these feelings in me allows me to focus on what set of techniques or ideas I need to build in order to evoke that feeling again.

For my illustrations or characters, it might be some kind of funny situation, mixed with a dark theme and a bit of action or subtle violence. This combination of cute and danger is the goal when I want to evoke a sense of power yet silliness to some degree.

Notice how I did not set the goal of "how I want the viewer to feel." I might have suggested that in the past, but the truth is, you cannot control the reaction of the people; you can only speculate about it through your own reaction. Ultimately, you are simply doing art for yourself. This is something I tend to forget when doing client art and sometimes leads to failure, until I start to create to meet my expectations only. As a byproduct, I end up meeting client expectations, which is the one paying me to be me. I hope that makes sense.

Are You Being Creative Enough?

I tend to forget and not always go hardcore in creativity. I guess I lose motivation or I'm uninspired, and that's fine; I cannot always be 100% full-on insane. But it's good to be aware of this question from time to time. What do you want to feel, and what's the most strange, absurd, or abstract way to evoke that feeling? Answering that and then breaking that idea beyond what's expected, I think, will put you in the creative realm.

I hope this helps! Thank you for your support.