The late best-selling art director and film-maker Paul Arden had a secret weapon to stimulate his creativity, as revealed in Creative Review by his producer and business partner Nick Sutherland-Dodd:
"We had a huge book cabinet in the office. After a meeting about a script, Paul would go and stand in front of it and pull out books, and he'd find something in a picture that would become a germ of an idea or a technique for a commercial."
Arden used to haunt second-hand bookshops looking for offbeat books, totally open to finding something new to him. Sutherland-Dodd says, "Most of the time he didn't know what they were about, he didn't even understand the titles, he was just looking for ideas."
These days used bookshops are harder to find but most charity shops have a selection of books. Once you look past the Stephen King and John Grisham books, you're likely to find some esoteric titles that can titillate the imagination.
"We had a huge book cabinet in the office. After a meeting about a script, Paul would go and stand in front of it and pull out books, and he'd find something in a picture that would become a germ of an idea or a technique for a commercial."
These days used bookshops are harder to find but most charity shops have a selection of books. Once you look past the Stephen King and John Grisham books, you're likely to find some esoteric titles that can titillate the imagination.
Another great source: the 2300 paintings from the UK's National Gallery that you can view online at www.nationalgallery.org.uk.
(Your secret weapon can be my book, "Creativity Now!" It reveals 25 ways to get into a creative state, 25 ways to generate ideas, 25 ideas to turn ideas into action, and 25 inspirational mini-case studies. If you've already read it and enjoyed it, please review it on Amazon or your other favorite online retailer's site--thanks!)
