idea generation resources?

[karipaints]

Hey Guys, anyone have any resources (blog posts, podcasts, videos, etc) on idea generation or sketching for brainstorming? I'm looking to learn something new.

[DK]

I have those character/landscape/scene random generators up specifically made for brainstorming and generating ideas. You can check them out, just go to the main forum page and find Random Generators in the activity sub-forums.

[karipaints]

Thanks for the reply! I have a couple already, but I'll check out the ones listed here too.

[Chris P]

Not a blog post or podcast, but perhaps my personal experience is helpful anyway:

There is no web resource to cure aimlessness. The thing with the web is, it is a great resource if you already know pretty well what you are looking for. But if you are looking for something that you can't quite describe yet, the web has a tendency to be a black hole that sucks away your time without returning anything.

The best way to generate ideas is to start something and stick with it. Choosing a project you want to invest time and effort in can be daunting - at least it is to me. I always feel overwhelmed with the sheer endless possibilities I have.

The best advice I can give you is to brainstorm with another human being. The process of back and forth idea generation and the personal feedback is something that technology can't substitute (at least not yet?).

Also it helps me (I think) to separate idea generation from sketching to a certain extend, at least when I want to learn something new: If I am doodling, I only draw what I already know how to draw, so I tend to stay deep inside my comfort zone with the ideas I generate. On the other hand, if I generate ideas in writing, I tend to come up with ideas for things I don't know how to draw yet. From those ideas I can derive areas where I need to study and improve before I can execute the idea.

[Amit Dutta]

Write a couple of random lists of words. One nouns, another verbs, another of adjectives. Mix and match to create different combinations. You will find some gold; Much more unique ideas than a lot of preset painting generators which don't ever go outside the bounds of the generic. I.e a typical landscape generator will pump out things like "dark sci-fi castle in evening". Random words comes up with, "metallic candyfloss waves" or "foamy wheel farms"

Or use this http://watchout4snakes.com/wo4snakes/Ran...ndomPhrase

I find listening to music with eyes closed can generate visual imagery.

Get used to looking for shapes in abstract patterns of anything around you. Kind of like seeing shapes in clouds or when tripping your goonies off. You can do it with anything that has a decent amount of variation in it, plants, marble, dirty carpets. It's pretty cool what our minds can pull out of chaos, and makes you that much more aware of the environment around you.

[Adam Lina]

Reading books or listening to audio books while you work is a great way to come up with ideas. Writing down your dreams each morning is good too.

[karipaints]

Wow, these are awesome replies guys.

@Chris: I think aimlessness is not the issue, sorry I was probably too vague in my original post. Currently, I am already working on a project, gathering research, and pulling together ideas. Sometimes people have methods to push their concepts before they move away from thumbnailing. That's what I meant by idea generation. But the part about brainstorming with another human being, that's exactly the kind of idea I was looking for :) It seems obvious, but can get left out when you're doing so much to brainstorm already.

@Amit - this is very similar to what I do already. Word association and similar. A great resource I've found is a process by Sterling Hundley. I heard him describe it at a workshop, but it's also available on youtube in summary: http://youtu.be/bdfbNtbRJ2w Check it out if you're interested in that kind of thing ^_^

@Hypna- that's a good idea with audiobooks too. I think especially while you are looking for a new project or you already have some books in mind to work off of, listening versus reading could provide some new/different ideas.

Thanks guys! I feel like I have some new outlooks to add to my process :D

[Chris P]

Thanks for the explanation, Kari! Indeed, I wasn't aware that "idea generation" or "ideation" describes a specific step of image-making. That Sterling Hundley video was quite interesting.

[Amit Dutta]

I hadn't seen that YT vid before, always interesting to see other approaches.
You probably have seen this one already: Iain McCaig's visual storytelling Gnomon Dvd's. He explains his story construction through ideation-sketching very well, and it's a joy to watch. Don't know if it is what you are after, but worth a watch regardless.