There are times when I look at my creative notebook, and I have no idea how to fill the page, how to invite the creativity. Sometimes I just need a little push.
This is a list I have compiled to help me get unstuck. Maybe it’ll help you too.
1. Add randomness
- Roll the dice
- Use a random generator
- Glue down all the random bits from your desk
2. Add restrictions
- Use a prompt
- Currently -ing words: watching, reading, listening, loving, etc.
- Lynda Barry’s Daily Exercise
- Photo prompts
- Writing prompts
- Set a time limit
- Limit materials
- Use words only
- Use images only
- Make a collage using one magazine
- Use only stickers, only washi tape, only watercolor, etc.
3. Add movement
- Go for a walk
- Work somewhere else: a different room in your house, outside, a coffee shop, etc.
- Work outside your notebook (and glue it in later)
4. Add repetition
- Participate in a creative challenge
- Swatch your supplies
- Make a list
- Collect: quotes on a topic, items of the same color, etc.
- Fill a page with: circles, labels, lines
5. Add color
- Fill the background with color
- Glue down ephemera from life: packaging, mail, etc.
- Make a pattern
6. Add structure
- Make a pocket
- Cut down the page
- Fill in a grid
Examples
From left to right, top to bottom:
- Fill a page with circles; use only watercolor
- Fill in a grid; glue down all the random bits from your desk
- Work outside your notebook and glue it in later
- Swatch your supplies; use only washi tape; fill the page with color
- Glue down ephemera from life
- Cut down the page
I hope these prompts serve as a reference for when you need a little creative push.
Textual Play 