A Guide to Unlocking Your Imagination

Do you remember the last time you thought of flying through the sky? Or thought of a really cool adventure you'd want to go on?

As a child, I remember being inspired by the anime I watched on T.V. whether that was Sailor Moon, Shaman King, or Tokyo Mew Mew. I imagined my own magical girl squad that were animals fighting endangerment. It sounds just like Tokyo Mew Mew, I know. But I put my own twist on it by making them have full on animal heads.

It wasn't the most pleasing drawing, but it was mine and it was creative. As children, we were free to think of anything in the world, inspired by everything. For the lucky ones, our eyes were pure and untainted, but as we grew older, we learned the meaning of grades, responsibility, and how to type in 12pt Times New Roman font for a structured essay that your teacher was going to give a mark.

I still have that mentality sometimes, the thought of rules within my work. As an artist, that meant anatomy, gesture, and composition. Which are important and useful, but limited my own creativity.

I love drawing and writing. I love the idea of exploring worlds that are within my mind and bringing them onto a page for other people to enjoy. That's why I became an artist! Yet I forgot how it felt to explore those worlds as I outline my novel, create a character profile, or sketch a composition of my next piece.

It's like I have a whisper in my head reminding me that someone is going to grade this, or notice something. It scares me into submiting to the status quo. Doing things that were not ever me. The frustration digs deep and eats away at my confidence at times, but I realized that if i'm not happy with my work then what's the point of creating it?

Don't get me wrong, everything is a learning experience!

But I want to learn and have fun doing it. That's why I am an artist rather than an employee at company A. It's an unstable job anyway, so why not jump on that unstable house and see what happens.

Here's how I've been bringing back my creativity through art:

1. Get a blank paper and a pen and doodle.

Make a bunch on mistakes! Scrible like you did as a child doing arts and craft. Do it and free your brain from that rotten inner critic. Do something that means nothing and keep it to yourself.

By doing so, you're able to be ok with mistakes, and have fun with what your doing. Don't put it on social media, or do. I know I post my most terrible scribbles on my instagram (which doesn't make an appealing feed) but shows that there is no such thing as perfection.

Doodle everyday, or write the most cringe worthy story ever. I recently brought back my magical Animal Girl and redrew her. Exploring that cringey thought and turning it into something that was fun to do, but also really dumb.

2. Go outside and look at the world around you.

I'm not just saying go for a walk. I'm saying go cloud watching, notice that weird cloud that looks like a baby's head. Think about what lies beyond those clouds, think that those clouds are cotton candy. Think that rain is a cloud's tearns or if you're extra weird a cloud's toilet break???

Get used to wacky thoughts, because those can easily become great ideas worth exploring. As a child, you didn't know what a good question or bad question is, because those don't exist.

There's no such thing as a good thought or bad thought. Everything is just what you percieve it to be. So imagine the world around you as a beautiful place.

Not only will it make you feel inspired, but it'll remind you of how fun it is to just look around and think.