Art and the Creative Process

Jillian Tamaki, a Brooklyn-based illustrator and art instructor, recently posted an elegant essay on her personal creative process, explaining step by step how she creates her work and offering advice to those who hope to be effective artists.

Step One, the most important, is “Be interested.” Everyone, artists and appreciators alike, should be aware of the aesthetic qualities of the world around you and also of the world that came before. “You might be surprised to learn that your favourite artist is really a knockoff of someone from 100 years ago.”

The essay is an excellent insight into not only the creative process of an artist, but also the process behind appreciating art and creativity. Her advice boils down to one straightforward concept: “The viewer should be charmed, intrigued, empathetic, repulsed, provoked. SOMETHING. They should be touched enough to want to cut the illustration out of the magazine.” It really is as simple as that.

(Thanks, Drawn!)

Image courtesy of lumaxart, licensed under Creative Commons.

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