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A portion of what I teach in my Goosing Your Muse creativity workshops is “How Ideas Are Formed.”

If you slow down the process of how ideas are formed, and look at each step, it helps to establish some vocabulary useful to creative people who collaborate on projects. This makes it easier to identify more clearly which phase you’re working in at which time.

Example: one of you might still be coming up with ideas, (First Insight) while your partner already has made a big leap to the Verification (Will It Work) phase. This could be very annoying as one of you says repeatedly, “What if?” or “We could do…” and the other says, repeatedly, “Nah, that won’t work, that won’t work.”

Another example is when one of you is in the Incubation phase, sleeping on an idea overnight, or taking a walk, or simply staring off into space. Others in your project group might see you as not working at all. Frustrating for everyone.

And naturally, it is totally possible that one person can have several ideas cooking at once, each one in a different phase of development.

Here’s a simplified version of the classic 5-step model for How Ideas Are Formed:

1 – First Insight: Identifying the problem/goal at hand
2 – Saturation: Pooling all the research that you can about the subject
3 – Incubation: Pausing to let the ideas take shape
4 – Illumiation (Aha!): When the idea or solution arrives
5 – Verification: Will it work

The article by Paul E. Plsek, Working Paper: Models for the Creative Process explores other models which are used successfully in brainstorming.

Remember, these are guides for a useful vocabulary, not recipes!

Enjoy!

Here’s a quick checklist of things you can do to stir up your Creative Juices, from An Artsy Fartsy blog by Scott Thigpen … some of which made me chuckle.

Many thanks to Douglas E. Welch for letting us know about this.

Some people love IQ Tests and performance quizzes. They find them useful to answer such questions as, “Am I creative?” or “How creative am I?” Personally, I like tests more for what I can learn by taking them, but I don’t advise setting your clock by them.

But if you are one of those people with a burning curiosity (and a true sense of play) you’ll enjoy this fun (and quick) Creativity Test on this truly interesting site, EnchantedMind.com, loaded with puzzles and explanations about why they’re good exercises for your “creativity” muscles.

Enjoy!

I once took an evening art class at Walt Disney Imagineering provided by concept consultant and pro artist, Ron Pekar, where we explored various art forms and techniques. It had been a long time since I’d touched any art supplies, and it was in this class I fell in love with watercolors.

I admit I don’t take as much time as I’d like these days to play around with paints, but when I see a site like this one, I get inspired all over again. WetCanvas.com is a resource worth bookmarking …

Also check out their excellent article (with illustrations) by Arnold Lowrey called The Control of Water in Watercolour.

Thanks to Douglas Welch for pointing out this superb site.

I’ve featured Danny Gregory’s blog before, Everyday Matters, (and no, I don’t know him), but I think he does such a good job illustrating his writing — or writing about his sketches and watercolors — that I just had to bring this site back to your attention.

Everyday Matters is a series of occasional essays on creative things, journal making, drawing, etc. intended to challenge, inspire and perplex. –Danny

Enjoy!

When we were in Breckenridge, Colorado, a few years ago, to do a Songwriters Workshop, the townspeople told us about this annual Snow Sculpture event. Until I saw these photos, I didn’t realize just how spectacular it was!

2005 Snow Sculpture Championships

Take a moment to play this little Twinoo Game which is a quick and fun exercise to stimulate the right and left brain hemispheres.

You can try to solve only the left brain exercises (simple arithmetic problems) or you can focus on the right brain exercises, blending colors … or you can try to handle them both, and see how quickly you can go back and forth. I’m sure the more you do these, the faster you’ll get. (Either that, or get a splitting headache!)

If you want to delve deeper, I’ve found an excellent article by photographer, Michael Fulks, from ApogeePhoto.com, called Does Your Left Brain Know What Your Right Brain Is Doing?

Enjoy!

Ever wonder, when you dip your brush into one of those smooth, creamy colors, just what did painters do before art shops made these gems so easily available?

“They are ground colored material. Early pigments were simply as ground earth or clay, and were made into paint with spit or fat. Modern pigments are often sophisticated masterpieces of chemical engineering….this exhibit includes most important pigments used through the early 20th century.” From the site: WebExhibits.org.

And while we’re at it, one of my all-time favorite places from which to order fabulous art supplies is Daniel Smith.

Luxuriate …

I was going to point out a good article for you from this new magazine, but I just couldn’t make up my mind which one. It’s a bit more for tech-heads, but good ideas come from everywhere.

“The first magazine devoted to digital projects, hardware hacks, and D.I.Y. (do it yourself) inspiration …”

MakeZine.com: Current Issue

Just like you, every now and then someone will send me a game. Later, I realize why they sent it to me.

You’ll do well with this one, for example, if you can continue to imagine a distance or measurement and keep it in mind as you play. I make it sound more complicated than it is. But it proves to be a unusual mental exercise and fun too.

Muppets – Fying Gonzo Stunt Game.

Thanks to John Gabree for sending this along.