I recently asked my followers on Instagram and Twitter, what were the topics they would like to see on my blog. Some of the questions that kept popping was “What’s your creative process like?” and “Where do you find inspiration to create your illustrations?” Those are tricky (but great questions) since it comes quite natural to me.
The best way I can put my creative process into words is that my brain acts like a blender (the words “blender” and “brain” in the same sentence kind of make me cringe a bit, but I have no better way to describe it!) that has a built-in Pinterest-like board. Let me explain.
My brain has (well I believe every brain has it too) a board in which it pins the things it likes.
It has a lot of previously loaded (“pinned”) elements in it (childhood and travel memories plus a lot of diverse things I love).
On top of it, elements are added to this imaginary board all the time. Things I see and like every day: looks, garments, accessories (on the streets, online, in my everyday life) color palettes, fruits, soda cans, flowers, leaves, sunsets, etc.
Later at some point my brain goes ahead and blends a lot of those elements together and produces an image that I need to urgently sketch. And voilà, an illustration is born.
Gingham, cherries and cherry blossoms are a few of my favorite things. [Images from Pinterest]
The Pinterest version of my brain board is this one that I’ve been curating lately. What I pin in there gets sketched later on in one way or another (I usually style things my own way though).
In addition I have a physical mood board in my studio that I change seasonally. I set it up every September and March and I pick up and pin my favorite trends for the season.
For a concrete example on my creative process, you can read this related post, in which you can see how my recent trip to Italy influenced my illustrations visibly.
What is it that inspires you to create? xo,
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