Creative thinking is always a challenge. Sometimes it can take us several months before we are able to think of a great idea, while it takes others a few days. From a young age, I've always enjoyed learning new skills that would be able to help me express myself and create art. I've tried many different things, from game design, to digital art, video editing and storyboarding, music production, 2D sprites and animation, as well as creative writing. All these activities require a great deal of creative thinking in order to produce something unique and intriguing. Through this blog, I hope that this would not only help indie studios and those starting out with game development, but also anyone who struggles with creative thinking, and help provide some new tips that may help.

Inspiration Boards.

Throughout all my years at university, we have always been told to create an inspiration board when we’re developing concepts. This board would be a collection of a variety of images that may inspire, motivate, and be referenced for the designs of the object. Creating these boards would also help provide us with inspiration, allowing it to be easier for us to think creatively and be motivated in continueing our project. Although this is good for helping us get started, it is not always effective for everyone. What if our inspiration boards do not actually help in providing us with inspiration? What if instead of creating original and intriguing designs, we are using the board as if these are all the attributes that our object will have?

An Improved Inspiration Board.

Rather than solely rely on using images to trigger your creative thinking process, we can create an improved, more dynamic inspiration board.To help explain how we will do this, we will use an example of creating a character concept for a “futuristic wizard”.

As shown above, I have collected some basic images off Google, varying my searches from Wizard and Futuristic Wizard. While the current inspiration board helps us to visualize our character, we can do more.

Inspiration boards are not solely about collecting a bunch of images you find to be appealing, but also requires a research component. While we are searching for images, it doesn’t hurt to do some background research on the topic we are focusing on (in this case, wizards and futurism). Having an understanding about various different ideas of the topic gives us a new perspective and new way of thinking about things. It provides us with more ideas and options in how we want to go about creating something. Aside from providing inspiration and allowing for the exploration of ideas, creating inspiration boards compels us to conduct research on what may be new or useful to us.

Another adjustment that can be made when creating inspiration boards is to not only include visual images, but also clips for literature, movies, of audio. Adding audio can help to develop moods, provide inspiration, and make you feel different moods. Audio, movies/film, and literature all help to add another dimension to the inspiration board. Not everyone can be inspired purely based on visuals, so adding a variety of these other mediums helps to stimulate the brain and increase thinking process activities.

Finding Inspiration.

Now the first inspiration source we may use is ourselves. Before, or even during, the concept creation of this wizard, we might have already had an image of what a wizard looks like in our mind. Maybe he has a long white beard, a pointy hat, or even a wooden staff! Sometimes we use ourselves as a base for inspiration without even realizing it. However, it is important that we do not rely solely on ourselves for inspiration.

If we only looked to ourselves for inspiration, it can cause some biased thinking, and it is not as effective at producing great results. We are creating something using the knowledge that we currently have, rather than exploring other options. Creating inspiration boards allows us a new perspective and way to see things. Even adding something on your board that you may not find appealing can be beneficial; you never know if it will catch the audience’s eyes or might be useful later on.

Inspiration is something found all around us; observe the environment, be open-minded, see the world, watch new movies, read different literature, and try new things. One of the biggest resources of inspiration is through experiences; try new things and see new places! Even if you are not currently in the process of working on something that requires creative thinking, you can learn so much more from experiencing new things! These experiences help shape and develop us; it helps build another part of our character and adds to our library of knowledge. This also means we have more knowledge and experiences to draw from that helps us to create even better concepts and developments in the future.

Going outside and looking around the environment can even be a good trigger for inspiration. There is always something new to see and learn about every day. Even if you have been walking down the same street for 7 years, maybe one day you will notice that there is a sticker on the back of that stop sign that you have never noticed before, or even make conversation with someone that has an interesting story or helps you see something in a new light.

Ask Questions.

I often find that when we are trying to think creatively, we will be trying to look for an “answer”. We try to find a solution by answering the “question”. This often leads to a one-way or more focused way of thinking. Instead of trying to find the answers, why don’t we ask more questions? If we are already struggling with trying to find the “answers”, we might as well ask more questions.

Asking questions is a more natural approach to creatively solving a problem. Searching for an answer gives you a similar feeling to answering a math question; it makes you feel like you are looking for one solution and restricts you on what else you could be thinking about. On the other hand, asking questions allows us with more freedom to thinking creatively. It lets us thinking about things we previously would not have considered. This allows us to explore new ideas, see from a different perspective, and consider alternate approaches to problem solving. When we ask questions, we can break boundaries and create more innovative solutions to problems.

Anyone can be creative!

Before you give up on being a game developer, concept artist, an innovator, an inventor, a designer, realize that it is never impossible to come up with new ideas. If we have the ability to fantasize and dream about being a superhero or obtaining superpowers, then we have the ability to dream and imagine any new possibilities.

In conclusion, creativity is learning, it means studying, it means exploring! Do not be afraid to experiment and come up with new ideas, or even challenge yourself to try something new and different!