The one thing I've found that helps me in my creative process is to have a set pattern to follow while working on a project. I really like that I have learned a way to focus my process in a predictable way though research, concepts, brief, proof and finished piece. I like to work in a linear process when I'm brainstorming the first time through. Later, when I've gotten down most of the thoughts I have, I will get clusters of ideas that helps break down any creative blocks I might have when working on a project. I find that the more I stress out about my work, the longer it's going to take for me to complete. It's that perfectionist beast on the rise again. One of the ways I offset that is through my gardening. It relaxes me and I can think again. It also works as a catalyst to generate more ideas for projects.

Another way to help generate ideas is through research and looking at what my peers are creating. I love to look at other artists work for creative inspiration. They often provide a new way to look at or think about an idea, which in turns sparks other thoughts and ideas about what I am working on. One of the nicer things about continuing design classes, they make you look at other artists work. You find someone you had never looked at before, like the artist/photographer, Hugh Kretschmer. I might not have ever seen his work and that would be a loss indeed.

I think that creative people in our world, cause the rest of the world to look at the lives they live differently. It helps us to be more creative ourselves and broaden our view of others in the world we share. It introduces a new perspective into what we thought we already knew. Drawing is that way. You think you know what something looks like only to find out when drawing it again and studying it, you really didn't know it at all. Art and design is ambiguous like that too. Just as soon as you think you've got it, it slips right through your fingers and you have to start all over again. But then, that is the challenge, isn't it!