Creativity Tutorial: How to Beat Creative Block

Learn this simple technique to identify and beat creative block with Silvia Fernández Palomar

Silvia Fernández Palomar is the winner of Spain’s 2019 National Design Award (youth category). She’s someone who’s constantly switching between art and design. This reflects her belief that you can’t finish anything if you’re in the middle of a creative block. Which is why she developed techniques to find, shape and achieve your ideas.

Discover her tips in the video:

3 Techniques to Avoid Creative Block

1. Quantity before quality

Imagine your city council asked you to come up with as many ways as you can think of to stop people getting wet when it rains. And they want your answers as quickly as possible. How would you help solve the problem? Free cagoules? Shops for people to shelter in until the storms pass?

When coming up with an answer it’s really important to let your imagine run free. Don’t hold back and jot down all your ideas, even when you “know” they’re no good. Quantity is better than quality when it comes to getting the flow going.

Notice that it’s normal for there to be a stumbling block. In this case it’s caused by the externally imposed time requirement. “This can be a good thing. It’s great to have ideas that are still taking shape, because it allows you to work on them,” says Silvia.

Your own blocks can be due to a lack of confidence or many other factors related to your state of mind. It’s normal to question your own ideas. But don’t kill them off.

2. Start with the simplest

It’s normal to want to shine, for example when presenting your ideas in a business setting. You might come up with an incredible, sophisticated idea first time, but it probably won’t happen that easily very often. Start out by investing in simple ideas, these will allow you to get gradually more sophisticated and creative.

3. Break the problem up

We often get stuck staring at “the big picture”, the full scale of a problem. Try breaking your challenge up and addressing each bit individually. This is guaranteed to give you good ideas that will help you overcome the obstacles along the way.

If you liked Silvia’s tips, remember she can help you to start exploring your artistic, visual and conceptual side in her online course: Techniques for Developing Your Creativity.

You may also be interested in:

- Illustration Techniques to Unlock Your Creativity, a course by Adolfo Serra.
- Using Your Sketchbook as an Idea Lab, a course by Joan X. Vásquez.
- Illustration for Creative Minds: Reinventing the Ordinary, a course by Cristian Turdera.
- What is Creative Block and How to Overcome it?