One of the best ways of finding inspiration as an artist is looking at other artists’ work and learning from them. And the more you paint, the more you learn, and the more you are able to look at other artists’ work and decipher what they were doing and their thought processes behind what they were doing.

Why are they all forms of artistic inspiration? Myths and legends are stories which are passed down, usually verbally, through generations within a culture. Visual metaphors can be from a dream or memory, and involve an association between two images or experiences.

21 Ways to Inspire Creativity When You’re Out of Ideas

• Listen to music. Multiple studies show that music can increase creativity and focus.
• Journal every day.
• Join a group of creatives.
• Take a walk.
• Turn off (or cover) your monitor.
• Reward yourself for writing with a kitten.
• Mind map.
• Carry an idea notebook.

Sternberg has proposed that creativity has five components: expertise, imaginative thinking skills; a venturesome personality; intrinsic motivation; and a creative environment that sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas.

A recent survey of innovative organization revealed that customers provided the greatest source for ideas, followed by marketing & sales, employees, firm leaders, suppliers and competitors.

Sources of Innovation

• Unexpected Occurrences. Consider, first, the easiest and simplest source of innovation opportunity: the unexpected.
• Incongruities.
• Process Needs.
• Industry and Market Changes.
• Demographic Changes.
• Changes in Perception.
• New Knowledge.

Deadlines will force us to focus on finishing the task at hand rather than coming up with creative ideas. Continuously chasing deadlines can make us emotionally exhausted. Hence there will be no motivation to be creative. So, giving tight deadlines to those, who cannot cope up with pressure can destroy creativity.

Every creative process goes through four stages: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. Every creative process goes through four stages: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. This first stage may vary slightly depending on whether you know what you want to write about or not.

These seven stages are: intention, incubation, investigation, composition, clarification, correction, completion.

The creative process is the act of making new connections between old ideas. Thus, we can say creative thinking is the task of recognizing relationships between concepts. More often, creativity is about connecting ideas.

The Three Components of Creativity Within every individual, creativity is a function of three components: expertise, creative-thinking skills, and motivation. Can managers influence these components?

7 Habits that Kill Your Creativity

• You’re too logical.
• You choose the first solution.
• You believe that there’s only one right answer.
• You lack expert knowledge.
• You’ve got too much expert knowledge.
• You’re overwhelmed by data.
• You just think you’re not creative.

Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. (page 396)

Creativity is something that you can turn on at will — just like a light switch. All you need are the four essential elements of Creativity: Focus, People, Tools and Time.

4 Types Of Creativity

• 2 Main Components of Creativity. 1) Originality. 2) Functionality.
• Qualities of Creative People. 1) They are Energetic. 2) They are intelligent.
• 4 Types of Creativity.
• 1) Deliberate and Cognitive creativity.
• 2) Deliberate And Emotional Creativity.
• 3) Spontaneous and Cognitive creativity.
• 4) Spontaneous And Emotional Creativity.

Open-mindedness

Torrance, the “Father of Creativity” talked about four elements to creativity: Fluency (# of ideas), Flexibility (variety of ideas), Originality (uniqueness of ideas), and Elaboration (details of ideas).

Definition (informal): A solution to a problem is creative if it involves concepts not present in statement of the problem and the general knowledge surrounding it. Don’t identify creativity with difficulty although they are usually correlated.

Examples of creative thinking skills include: problem solving, writing, visual art, communication skills, and open-mindedness. Top areas for creative hiring in 2019 will be: web and mobile development, web production, user interface and interaction design, creative development, and visual design.

Creative thinking includes analysis, open-mindedness, problem-solving, organization, and communication. Many employers value creative thinkers, so consider highlighting your creative thinking skills on your resume and in interviews.