Basic Strategies to Help Generate Creative Ideas

Coming up with new and creative ideas for a character is, at best, a lot of work. It's harder to get inspired design ideas if you simply bounce them around in the confines of your mind. If possible, get all of your senses involved.

Learning to Relax

The first and most important thing you can do for yourself when you are faced with a creative problem is to take a deep breath and relax. Talk to yourself a little about the problem. Take another deep breath and make sure you are feeling calm and confident. The more you can lower your stress and anxiety levels, the better your chances for mental clarity will be as you begin coming up with ideas.

When you are calm, collected, and ready to start working on some great ideas, use a combination of the following suggestions to help you come up with creative ideas:

1. Take a walk and clear your mind. We're not talking a power walk, where you try to get exercise; we mean a stroll, during which you observe what is around you and your mind can wander. Daydream. Lie down on a grassy hill and look at the clouds. See the shapes within them and let the shapes you see suggest images to you. Sit down on a rock by a stream or river and watch the water. All of these things will help free your mind.

2. Closely observe the people around you every day. If you do this, you will begin to notice special qualities that you didn't see before. As your mind begins thinking about your basic character idea, consider applying to your character the individual qualities, traits, physical appearance, quirks , habits, and faults of your friends. Don't just limit yourself to friends . Include the larger circle of your acquaintances as well as celebrities , politicians , sports stars, and anyone in the public eye. If you are designing a villain, why not base the character on people that you just do not like? You can also look at fictional characters , but watching them is not as much fun as observing real people. Remember that a fictional character is already someone else's vision and as such is nothing more than a shallow representation of a personality, whereas real people have so much more depth.

3. Have a brainstorming session with a few other people. Brainstorming by yourself is never successful, but brainstorm with four or five people and see what happens. As an example of how well this works, try to think of 50 new and unique ways to use a brick. If you did this exercise alone, you probably couldn't come up with 50 variations. But if you get four or five creative people together in a room, they will likely come up with some very creative ideas. Of course, many of the ideas will not be usable. Usability is not the point, and it does not matter if some of the ideas are outrageous . The point is to begin looking at the subject in a new light. Figure 3.1 shows what it can sometimes feel like when you have to come up with new ideas.

   
   Figure 3.1: Brainstorming can be painful but rewarding .

Locating Useful Reference Materials

Being able to find appropriate reference materials and learning how to use them is one of the most important abilities an artist can have. In fact, one of the most important skills you can acquire is knowing how to find information that will be useful and inspiring to you as you design your character. Learn how to use the local library. Learn how to use the Internet to find visually inspiring imagery; you can find anything on the Internet these days. The vast amount of visual and written information on the Web can be overwhelming if you are not careful, so make sure to spend your time effectively.

Using Wordplay

Playing with words can be one of the best ways to come up with good ideas. Basically, this exercise consists of writing columns of words and combining them in unusual ways. You can literally draw lines from one word to another. Combinations you never thought of will arise. If needed, take some time to create lists that are specific to the project you are working on. It would not do much good to list ocean creatures if you were working on a space character.

Here is an example of a very short list to illustrate the concept of combining words to form new ideas to work with. Of course, this list is not meant for any specific problem; the lists that you would use should be customized to your problem. Of course, some combinations work better than others. A 'sharp heroic' does not make much sense.

Knight

Obtuse

Shiny

Vicious

Mermaid

Heroic

King

Warthog

Sharp

Friendly

Monster

Ostrich

Fantasizing About the Character

Fantasize about the character that you need to design. Fantasizing goes hand in hand with both brainstorming and daydreaming . Fantasizing is more an individual activity where you would imagine 'what if'-type situations about your character, whereas brainstorming is best in a group setting, as we have seen. When fantasizing, you will want to get out of the everyday modes of thought and see how far out you can take your ideas. 'What if?' is the biggest question to ask yourself when you fantasize.

Using Symbolism with the Character

Give the character personality or traits that have symbolic elements. Many symbolic elements are very easy to relate with. If you use appropriate symbols, your audience will get quick clues to a character's personality. For example, if a halo is put over a character's head, assumptions can be made, whether right or wrong, about the character. The symbolism may be public and easily recognized by many people. Or, it may be private and have meaning only to you, the creator. Many books that list different symbols and their meanings are available. Some symbols are timeless while others are more contemporary. Examples of some things with symbolic meaning are white doves, bats, black cats, gold, lead, the planets, and astrological symbols.

Building the Character Around a Myth

Build your character around a myth; or, create a myth around your character. Mythologize your character. The human race has so many different myths and legends that it's easy-and to a degree smart-to use them as a basis for your characters because a mythical character's history is already so well defined. The character Dracula has become such a strong cultural symbol of the myth that designing a 'new' Dracula would take a lot of work to break the visual mold.

Snowballing

Just as a snowball gains size and speed as it rolls down a hill, snowballing an idea can help it gain momentum and size . Snowballing is simply adding more and more wacky notions to a developing idea. Use snowballing in conjunction with brainstorming, fantasy, wordplay, or just about any other idea-creating exercise.

Visiting Special Places for Inspiration

Visit the zoo. Some of the best ideas can come when you watch the animals as well as the people. Figure 3.2 shows an unusual character based on someone seen at the zoo. Along these same lines, go and spend the day at the local airport with a sketchbook. You will be amazed by the amount of inspiration that walks by.

Figure 3.2: An interesting character seen at the local zoo.