If you are a cartoonist on a tight production schedule, I feel really sorry for you. I mean, when you are expected to produce funny ideas when you don't feel funny. Being a cartoonist, what you produce actually depends a lot on your creativity. And subsequently, your income too!
Cartoonist Block: I must confess that I often find myself in a lethargic state of mind, and nothing seems to move at all - I called it Cartoonist Block.
I would just stare at a blank sheet of paper and didn't know how to start. Having a pencil in my hand doesn't help at all. What can I draw? Where do I pluck my ideas from? Ideas simply don't appear out of thin air! When there is no inspiration...perspiration sets in!
So I decided to stimulate my mind to trigger ideas. I did some research and found out quite a bit about the creative process which I now share with you. The creative process consists of the following sequence of stages:
1. Getting ready
2. Mulling it over
3. The aha
4. Checking it out
Getting ready: Ideas for just about anything could be found anywhere and everywhere. Newspapers, song lyrics, advertisements, speeches, announcements on the radio, magazines, and books are just examples of some sources that are simply full of ideas. But in order to use these ideas, you must be actively searching for a specific application.
So in getting ready, you must determine exactly what you are looking for. Once you have that objective, everything you see or hear will be screened through on a fine sieve to determine whether it fits in or not.
Let's see how it works. If your specific application is to find humorous ideas, then it will be extremely helpful if you have access to a huge source of humorous situations. In most cases, it's the more the better. But then not all of them can be used, which brings us to the second stage...
Mulling it over: The brain works in a somewhat mysterious way. If you force it too hard, it could shut down and not behave in the way you want it to. Perhaps it has a mind of its own. (pun intended) But when you become relaxed, it seems to work better.
In mulling over, you simply keep the idea at the back of your mind, not rejecting it, but hoping to use it at some time in the future.
Inspiration comes sometimes in the middle of the night or while you are bathing or doing something unrelated. Many thinkers recommend that you keep a pen and notebook handy for these moments, the aha moment.
The aha: Aha is just a common expression you yell out when you hit upon an idea. It's like a light bulb being lighted. You can see the solution - in your mind. Mind you it's still floating in your mind, but if you do not write it down somewhere, it might simply fly away and you would have lost it.
So at this stage, it is important that you record it either in words, voice or picture so that it could be retrieved again.
Checking it out: Sometimes, although you might believe that you have stumbled upon a good idea at a certain moment, but as time goes by, the idea might not appear to be so later.
Well, not all ideas might be feasible. Perhaps it might be offensive to somebody. Or it might not have the same meaning with your audience.
The creative process did seem very simple to me. But knowing them was very important to my next stage of creative development, which was to stimulate my mind to trigger ideas.
Using an e-book that randomly matches characters with situations, I found that very often I saw things humorously when situations change - that's getting ready stage. And my source of ideas was almost infinite because it was available whenever I carry my laptop with me. And I certainly have overcome Cartoonist Block.
Cartoonist Block: I must confess that I often find myself in a lethargic state of mind, and nothing seems to move at all - I called it Cartoonist Block.
I would just stare at a blank sheet of paper and didn't know how to start. Having a pencil in my hand doesn't help at all. What can I draw? Where do I pluck my ideas from? Ideas simply don't appear out of thin air! When there is no inspiration...perspiration sets in!
So I decided to stimulate my mind to trigger ideas. I did some research and found out quite a bit about the creative process which I now share with you. The creative process consists of the following sequence of stages:
1. Getting ready
2. Mulling it over
3. The aha
4. Checking it out
Getting ready: Ideas for just about anything could be found anywhere and everywhere. Newspapers, song lyrics, advertisements, speeches, announcements on the radio, magazines, and books are just examples of some sources that are simply full of ideas. But in order to use these ideas, you must be actively searching for a specific application.
So in getting ready, you must determine exactly what you are looking for. Once you have that objective, everything you see or hear will be screened through on a fine sieve to determine whether it fits in or not.
Let's see how it works. If your specific application is to find humorous ideas, then it will be extremely helpful if you have access to a huge source of humorous situations. In most cases, it's the more the better. But then not all of them can be used, which brings us to the second stage...
Mulling it over: The brain works in a somewhat mysterious way. If you force it too hard, it could shut down and not behave in the way you want it to. Perhaps it has a mind of its own. (pun intended) But when you become relaxed, it seems to work better.
In mulling over, you simply keep the idea at the back of your mind, not rejecting it, but hoping to use it at some time in the future.
Inspiration comes sometimes in the middle of the night or while you are bathing or doing something unrelated. Many thinkers recommend that you keep a pen and notebook handy for these moments, the aha moment.
The aha: Aha is just a common expression you yell out when you hit upon an idea. It's like a light bulb being lighted. You can see the solution - in your mind. Mind you it's still floating in your mind, but if you do not write it down somewhere, it might simply fly away and you would have lost it.
So at this stage, it is important that you record it either in words, voice or picture so that it could be retrieved again.
Checking it out: Sometimes, although you might believe that you have stumbled upon a good idea at a certain moment, but as time goes by, the idea might not appear to be so later.
Well, not all ideas might be feasible. Perhaps it might be offensive to somebody. Or it might not have the same meaning with your audience.
The creative process did seem very simple to me. But knowing them was very important to my next stage of creative development, which was to stimulate my mind to trigger ideas.
Using an e-book that randomly matches characters with situations, I found that very often I saw things humorously when situations change - that's getting ready stage. And my source of ideas was almost infinite because it was available whenever I carry my laptop with me. And I certainly have overcome Cartoonist Block.
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