3 Essential Books for Learning to Create

Illustrator Alfonso de Anda entrusts us with the titles of some of the books that have most inspired him

Inspiration is everywhere, and although it may be waiting for you around the corner, in a café, at a meeting with friends, or in your own home, there are some books that can help you exercise your creativity and help good ideas flourish.

Over the years, illustrator Alfonso de Anda (@deandaalfonso) has become a specialist in capturing good ideas and awakening creativity. These are some of his favorite books about the habit of creating:

Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind, by 99u and Jocelyn K. Glei

Taking as a premise the saturation of information and the long list of things to do that we all face every day, this book tries to give us an idea of how to organize our lives. It is about ensuring that our routine does not end up destroying our creativity, something we must keep on top of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The War of Art, by Stephen Pressfield

When we talk about the war of art, as this book calls the battle against our creative barriers, there is no single strategy that will help us overcome them. However, it is possible to conquer small battles that will help us get through creative blocks in ways we might not have imagined. The War of Art is a guide to help us recognize and overcome the obstacles that prevent us from achieving our ambitions to create.

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, by Twyla Tharp

As many authors conclude, creativity is a habit that one must find in oneself and work to develop it. Through exercises and anecdotes, this title teaches us how to strengthen the muscle that pushes us to create and solve problems originally and objectively.

In the course Fanzine and Self-publishing Lab, Alfonso de Anda teaches you how to edit your first fanzine from your own illustrated ideas.

English version by @harry_davies.

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