There’s nothing more intimidating than a blank page. Some are inspired by the boundless potential of a blank canvas. I just see a white page and feel my creativity shudder.
As a writer, I often experience writers block. All artistic “blocks” can be grouped into the umbrella term “The Blank Page Syndrome.” This is a Twilight Zone-esque state in which a page (or canvas) becomes ominous. The sensation afflicts us in a more familiar way through having a loss for words.
The Fight Against Blank Page Syndrome
How do you combat this issue? The easiest way is to reign in the scope of what you want to create by condensing your creative goals. This doesn’t mean giving up on your goals, rather it means setting smaller goals that make up the bigger picture. This mention of boundaries might seem to go against the essence of creativity, but they actually fuel the creative flame. If you start with some inspiration as a jumping-off point then your art will truly thrive and grow.
Adult coloring books have begun to aid in the fight against this ailment. They do this by giving you their pages pre-populated with black-and-white figures. With coloring books you have the opportunity to fill in the blanks however you’d like.
Apply coloring book logic to your own work. Make an outline — whether it be a sketch outline for a drawing or the plot outline of a novel — and go from there.
How to Spark Creativity
Still Having Trouble? Don’t get down on yourself, it happens. Try beginning your creative journey by picking a creative idea at random. I like to think of this as symbolically throwing a dart at a board of ideas. You can do this by creating a list of all potential ideas and throw a symbolic dart at the list. Do this by shutting your eyes and placing your finger on a random section of the page. Writing a kids book? “Throw a dart” at a picture of farm animals and find inspiration in whatever animal it lands on. Suddenly your main character is a horse named Harry.
The most important part is finding out where to start. Think of the blank page as a patch of soil. Start with a seed of inspiration which will grow into a beautiful finished product. It’s your job to pick what kind of seed you want to plant, and let your creativity take it from there.
We constantly face the Blank Page Syndrome here At Budsies. Creating plushies out of original drawings can intimidate kids and illustrators alike. Yes, “You can turn any drawing into a stuffed animal!” but how do you decide which of your creations would look best as a custom plushie. Try not to sweat it too much, your creations are unique to you. No matter what design you send in, you will receive an original stuffed animal, and you will love them all the more because of it!
