How I find new ideas for Black Rainbow webcomic
By Jeffrey on July 16th, 2009Posted In: Blog, General Artistic Inspirations
How do you embrace new ideas and concepts?
On more than one occassion, I have been asked how I come up with weird and eccentric ideas for Black Rainbow. After some period of reflection, I have narrowed down my process of attaining new ideas My answer to this is DISINHIBITION and HYPERVIGILANCE.
On the note of DISINHIBITION:
- Keep pen and paper close by at all times and write down all fragments of half formed ideas, phrases, images that maybe applicable to your project. You never know which little tidbit will fire off a fully formed idea in the future.
- Do not filter and judge any spon ideas. Instead, focus on recording them on paper for solid reference and then letting your subconcious computer refine and tweak the idea on its own.
- If a given idea, theme, or concept makes you feel uncomfortable, keep pushing it’s development. Chances are this is unexplored and taboo territory that can really help push the boundaries of your work.
- Like Jim Carrey, adopt the mantra of “YES MAN” to all your ideas instead of pre judging them on whether they would be good enough for an audience.
On the note of HYPERVIGILANCE
- Always keep an eye and ear open to what is going on around you. Inspiration is always around the corner. Keep an open mind and you will recognize even the most banal event as potential material.
- Pay attention to your environment. Observe the street art that surrounds you. Pay attention to the writing on bathroom walls, stencils, and graffiti art.
- Be aware of the social interactions between people occuring around you. Eavesdrop on peoples’ conversations. Observe interactions between people paying extra attention to reactions, responses, affect, and body language. Real life interactions are a rich source to draw ideas and dialogue from.
- Be conscious of the different types of media you absorb directly and passively. There is so much inspiration in various froms of music, radio, film, videos, and fine art to name a few. Explore different genres of fine art, music and movies to experience other ways of seeing, hearing, and feeling. Lyrics are great jump offs for visual puns and metaphors that can translate into a comic. Whatever media you are consuming, always keep an open mind for profound insights and knowledge that can compliment and ultimately augment your work.
