Asked to describe the creative process, the painter Jasper Johns replied, “It's simple: You just take something and do something to it, and then do something else to it. Keep doing this, and pretty soon you've got something.”
Johns' comment succinctly summarizes everything I have learned about creativity in 60+ years of drawing. Having said that, we will use the rest of this book to explore what it means to “take something and do something to it.” In the process, I hope to deepen your experience of imagining and creating.
Keys to Drawing With Imagination takes a broad look at what it means to draw from your imagination. This might mean drawing the fantasy images in your head. It could also mean distorting, abstracting or simply doodling. Imaginative drawing may include making strange combinations, making connections between seemingly unrelated things or simply drawing from memory. It certainly involves making creative choices about the things you choose to draw.
We tend to think of imagination and creativity as qualities that people have. But in reality these qualities show up only in action — as something you do. Simply put, imagining is what you do in your head; creating is what you do on paper. Are there rules for creating? Probably not, if a rule is something that you must do. But let's distinguish between rules and principles. I believe that there are useful principles that can help you create. Jasper Johns has already given us a first principle: Creativity occurs in action.
You don't need to be exceptionally clever to draw creatively. Certainly theories about creativity don't help much. You don't even need to have particularly good ideas. Often, ideas don't occur to you until after you've started drawing. So you should not wait around for great ideas. Just begin with simple ideas. Bigger things will emerge out of them. We can make this our second principle: Creativity begins with simple ideas.
The one indispensable quality essential for creating is engagement with the work. When you are engaged — lost in the work — you shift out of the future and into the present. This is where creativity thrives. Out of this comes our third principle: Creativity lives in the present.
A common experience for both artists and students is to be disappointed in the gap between what we imagine and how it actually appears on paper. Our skills rarely seem up to the products of our minds. This is simply the way it is — and it is true for almost everyone. There are two things you can do about it. First, draw a lot — a whole lot. All mastery comes through practice. (My previous book, Keys to Drawing, may also be helpful. It focuses on developing basic drawing skills.) This gives us our fourth principle: Creativity increases with practice.
The other thing that you can do is confine your judgments to the practical and specific: to such things as shading, proportions, pattern and so on. General self-criticism isn't helpful. Avoid subtly self-disparaging statements such as:
“You're either creative or you're not.”
“Some people just have it. Others don't.”
“I don't have any ideas.”
“I have lots of ideas, but I don't draw well enough to express them.”
This leads us to yet another principle: Creativity increases as judgment and criticism decrease.
Even as I encourage you to exercise freedom in drawing, I will also emphasize that the imagination needs a certain amount of specificity. If I say to you, “Imagine something,” you might have to struggle. But if I tell you about a land where dogs are in charge — the police force, the Supreme Court, the astronauts, all dogs — you will immediately get a more specific picture.
I actually never liked those grade-school art assignments in which I was told, “Draw anything you want.” I was overwhelmed by the possibilities. My mind came up blank. There was nothing to push against — no problem to solve. The experience left me with an early and intuitive appreciation for the value of constraints. In fact, it is both beautiful and ironic that constraints can actually give you more freedom. They activate your imagination. Mature artists have learned to set their own constraints. You will as well, but understand that this stage usually comes later in an artist's development. Principle: Creativity likes constraints and specifics.
Creativity is a lot like happiness. It shows up when you're thinking of something else. Here is what I mean. Imagine that you are sitting in a room with your sketchbook in hand. You have an urgent desire to create. Your pencil is poised. Your energy is focused. You are determined. But nothing happens. Why? Because wanting to be creative is all about you. It is a goal, not an action. Goals are about the future. Actions are about the present. Try picturing yourself differently. You have a definite project in mind. For instance, you might try combining two of your previous sketches into a single drawing. Now you have a specific task. While the rules may be simple, the possibilities are vast. The project is no longer about you, but about solving a problem. Your creativity comes alive in the present instead of being stalled in the future. Principle: Creativity emerges in experimentation, manipulation and exploration.
So the projects in this book are set up as problems. They have built-in constraints of one sort or another. They are also intended to be open-ended enough to allow you to work them out in your own way. If, while working on one of these projects, your drawing spins off in a new direction — one entirely your own — then so much the better. Principle: Creativity is about having a plan and a willingness to depart from it.
Most of this book is about strategies, with names like adding on, spinning off, reversing, progressively changing, and repeating — with variation. These strategies are based on the use of your own work as source material for further, more imaginative drawings. In other words, making a drawing is often only the first stage of an extended creative process. (This involves some “setting up” instructions provided on pages 8 and 9.)
After I was well into the writing of this book, I realized that several of the transforming operations which I promote (such as mirror imaging, distorting and multiplying) can be done mechanically by computers. Even though this is the case, I urge you to take the more laborious — and more creative — path of drawing by hand. This not only develops skill, it produces warmer and more personal results. I'm a strong believer in a quality that I call “wobble,” the less-than-perfect execution of things crafted by hand.
A subject as vast as this one demands a little humility from the author. The ideas in Keys to Drawing With Imagination are not necessarily new in the world, but some are new to me. Like any teacher, I propose to share what I've learned from others and from my own experience with drawing. I believe that the principles and projects in this book will help you take your own work in new and original creative directions. The examples by me and my colleagues are meant solely to enliven the text. They are not intended to show you “the way to do it.” In the end, the way to do it is your own unique way.
Keys to Drawing With Imagination is designed to be progressive, meaning it starts simply and gets more complex as it goes along. The earlier projects are mostly specific and controlled. The later ones leave more room for you to make your own choices. The chapters and projects are designed to be taken in sequence, but I believe in chance and serendipity, so I invite you to follow any sequence that best suits you.