Read before you write. Look at art before you draw.
Chuck Close famously said,
“Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work.”
While I take his point, I’d like to share a great trick I’ve learned for getting into the right mental mode. This trick helps to psychologically ‘pregame’ before beginning any kind of creative work. If I were procrastinating on a project for whatever reason, this trick works every time. (Some also call part of it ‘Priming’.)
Here’s the trick:
If I were about to sit down to draw a cartoon, I would flip through a cartoon collection book. Not for ideas — but for the creative tone. It sets the table and gets my mind well and truly in the mindset of that art form. If I were to sit down and write an essay: before typing a single word or reviewing my notes, I would spend at least 15 minutes buried in some of the most inspiring and well-written essays ever published. (Or, at the very least, words by someone I enjoy reading.) This isn’t to absorb the voice of another writer or take any of their material into my subconscious— it’s to get my brain into the right gear for the work ahead.
I have a “Get to work” folder on my computer that I’ve been adding to for decades, and I randomly sift through it before I sit down to get to work, just to get my mind primed and inspired. I’d encourage you to do the same thing if you’re finding yourself in a rut.
You can also do this with your physical space if you’re lucky to have a studio/office where you can decorate it to your own preferences. Physically surround yourself with the art that inspires you to create great work. I’ve done this my whole life. I’ve had a dozen studios over the past 20 years, and inevitably, they end up with art all over the walls that inspire me to get to work.
Look at art that inspires you before you draw. Read writing that inspires you before you write. It sounds like simple advice, but it is profoundly effective when you’re having trouble getting into the ‘mode’ needed to be creative on demand.
For my work, I have to create every single day, whether I feel like it or not.
Since I was 15 years old, I’ve always clipped out art that inspires me or sparks off an idea or a mindset and stuck it on my wall (or, in my childhood days, my closet doors.) I used to think I would subconsciously absorb some of the great artists’ styles, but I’m not so sure about that.
These days, I have art all around me in my studio. If I’m about to draw up a rough draft for MAD, I’ll flip through the MAD 60th Anniversary book or a Sergio Aragonés, Mort Drucker or Don Martin collection. If I’m about to ink a New Yorker cartoon, I might flip through some old Thurber, Addams or George Booth collections— or Google other artists I’m enjoying right now and scroll through their work on Pinterest.
My studio wall looks like a serial killer’s den, sure, and the imagery and words are now about nine layers deep, but it does help kick my brain into gear every morning when it’s time to start work.
Try it out, and let me know in the comments how it works for you.
