Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists

UNIT 5

Inspired by Imagination

I USED TO THINK THAT ARTISTS could see the completed image in their mind before they began to draw. But I don’t think I’ve ever had a fully completed idea, creative or otherwise.

I slowly began to realize that the creative process is just that—a process. Ideas are built bit by bit—sometimes in a flood of inspiration, sometimes over long periods of time—and they are not born in a vacuum. Every detail in our world that attracts our attention becomes material for our imagination to experiment with. Dreams are an example of how our imagination creates new things from the jumble of stuff floating around in our heads.

Drawing from imagination is about allowing yourself to accept as fair game anything that pops into your ...