Where do Ideas Come From?

It Might Not Be a Matter of Where, but When

One of the biggest questions for new illustrators is about ideas. Where do ideas come from? Before I started, I just assumed that designers and illustrators just came up with ideas out of nowhere. The ideas came instantaneously, like a bolt of inspired lightning— and if they didn’t come, artists would flounder about woefully until they did. There is this popular misconception, that ideas are just like spirits floating around in the air, fully formed and ready to be used if you can just be lucky enough to catch one. This is such a load of hogwash, I’m surprised this misconception still exists.

Before learning more about how ideas are found, I assumed that somehow you built up a sort of “creative muscle” that became good at instantaneously capturing these ideas. Creativity meant having this superpower of instant ideas. The whole point of going to art school was to learn the secret of obtaining this superpower.

Again, all hogwash.

So: where do ideas come from? You’ve probably already heard that “genius is ninety-nine percent perspiration, one percent inspiration”. I think we all know this, at least a little bit. We’re all familiar with the cliché. So how come we still believe the contrary? Maybe it’s because artists want to uphold this perception, that…