Keeping your creativity alive has always been a challenge, but in the era of work from home, where the lines between work life and home life have blurred and where burnout and social disconnection are rising, creativity is at risk. We’ve asked some of the most creative folks we know for advice on how to keep one’s creativity alive.
Lindsey Danae Perez
My creative expression is tied to my existence, as it is for most humans whether they understand that or not. Every single day that we open our eyes and decide to get out of bed each morning, we are now partaking in a creative process. Read more>>
Eben Schumacher
For me creativity is something I discovered as a kid in moments when I needed to shut out the world. When being alive and conscious became too chaotic or painful to process, and I could simply escape onto a blank page and let my imagination take over. Read more>>
Renata Osses
As an artist, keeping my creativity alive is fundamental for my craft. I am not going to lie, because keeping up with routines or doing what “we like” is hard sometimes, the secret is that even if you forget or you stop for a little bit, you come back, you always have to come back. Read more>>
Emily Duncan
My creative journey has been a long and windy one because even as a child, I had a hard time sticking to just ONE kind of art-making. I grew up doing theater and cultivating a car CD folder of exclusively musical theater soundtracks. I started playing flute in middle school because I thought it would help me become a better singer. Read more>>
Catalina López
We live in a very interesting time for humanity. We were leaving university and to apply for a master’s degree in another part of the world, communication was parallel between documents through airmail and information exchange by email. Responses to requests, medical diagnoses, any procedure or mapping of information, economic transactions, and daily tasks required greater patience training, a human capacity inversely proportional to artificial intelligence. Read more>>
Ray Symmone
I keep my creativity alive by actively engaging in service acts within the melanated community. Volunteering at local cultural centers and participating in community events allows me to stay connected to my roots and draw inspiration from the vibrant diversity around me. I also mentor young creatives, helping them to find their own voices and encouraging them to pursue their passions. Read more>>
Nicole Yost
As artists we are always looking to enhance our creative side. This can look very different for everyone. I love creating new characters which each audition I receive. Even if I don’t book the part, It’s a chance to explore someone that I’m not in real life. Read more>>
Caroline Alarcón Loor
One of the ways I keep my creativity alive is by being myself and embracing my uniqueness. All of us are unique in our own way, in my opinion. We are shaped by our likes, backgrounds, experiences, and connections. More than anything, my experiences and getting inspired by unique personalities always keep me inspired to want to create, and for me, creating also means contributing to an experience. Read more>>
Sapphina Roller
To keep my creativity alive, I embrace it as a constant, accessible presence in my life, actively seeking and making space for it even when I’m not feeling inspired. I’m learning more and more to act on inspiration when it strikes and staying present and playful in the process. My time at art school during COVID challenged my creative flow, but I’ve since rediscovered the joy of creating for myself. Read more>>
Sam Violet
I keep my creativity alive by getting out of my comfort zone. Trying new mediums, methods, styles, and even making art in different locations are all great ways to think a bit differently than you’re used to. It’s hard to force yourself to think outside of the box when you feel stuck, so you can always start by making the box a bit larger by trying new things. Read more>>
Jared Plink
It helps when you start early. I started making comics when I was around 8 years old, back when there was no internet and the best you could do was staple papers together and share them with your elementary school classmates. Ever since then, I can’t even think of a time when I wasn’t making comics. Read more>>
Chenghao Yu
As an illustrator, maintaining creativity is both a continuous challenge and a rewarding journey. One of the key ways I keep my creative energy flowing is by adopting a multidisciplinary approach. I love exploring and integrating elements from different fields, such as interactive installations, fashion, and experimental films. Read more>>
Nohemi Arvizu
I think for me it’s a mix of a few elements: I try to consume as much art as I produce to find inspiration. Whether it’s music, films, series, visual artwork on social media, etc. I make an effort to seek out and attract work and projects that excite me for client work. Read more>>
Andrea Yordanova
Good question! As an actor, keeping my creativity alive involves a continuous and dynamic process of exploration and self-renewal. I immerse myself in diverse experiences by traveling, attending theater productions, films, and art exhibits, which broaden my understanding of different cultures and human behaviors. I maintain a habit of reading extensively – self-improvement books, plays, screenplays—and conducting deep research for each role that I have to play, which helps me build authentic characters. Read more>>
Jieru Tang
In my daily life, I keep myself creative through various ways. I often go out sketching with friends, drawing the landscapes and people I see in front of me. During the process, I feel very relaxed, with no sense of urgency or pressure, completely enjoying the act of creating art. Through this, I can also enjoy the healing and beauty that painting brings to my life, while maintaining lasting creativity. Read more>>
Delora Green
I keep my creativity alive by creating consistently I mean like the saying goes use it before you lose it. I was born a creative person so my creativity will never die because it’s the only life I’ve known , my creativity is a lifestyle and not just something to do when I’m bored. Being born to create is something most people take for granted we all were created by the creator to CREATE our lives, our careers , and our environments! Read more>>
Falica Love
How do I keep My creativity alive? Well, I love to write stories, creating characters and developing their lifestyle, their drama, etc is amazing. I keep my creativity alive simply by loving what I do. Read more>>
Meghan Kujawa
Something I’m sure all creative professionals can relate to is finding the balance between work and creativity. It’s challenging to be creative on-the-spot as a wedding photographer when wedding days can be high-stress and fast-paced. Read more>>
Marc Robillard
I believe that everyone is creative in their own unique way. We all express ourselves differently in various aspects of our lives. Personally, I love to write songs, create music, make art, figure out which socks to wear with which pants, decide how I’m going to walk into a room, start a conversation, or even the way I think. Read more>>
Jackson Floyd
For me, Creativity has always been an intrinsic part of me. This is because I attach my creativity to my emotions which means I have an endless supply of creativity because humans have an endless supply of emotions. There are some instances where i’ll sit down to create something and find myself struggling to think of what I want to make but usually closing my eyes and focusing in on how I’m feeling at the time leads to some sort of image or theme popping into my mind which is what I end up creating. Read more>>
Sophia Barnes
I think the main important thing is to maintain your health, especially gut health so that you can continue to have creative ideas flowing through you and not just feel sick all the time. For me, I love to try new herbs and supplements for this, but the main way I keep my creativity alive is through going through traumatic events and coming out the other side with new insights and perspective and wisdom. Keeping a journal of ideas for artworks, songs, recipes, etc. helps me to stay organized as well. Read more>>
Brendon Rosenbaum
Through the love of creativity and the joy of delivering it to the people that enjoy it. I have spent many years developing my sound as an artist and just as many years learning to be the best I can be in live show production. I am very lucky to have a great career at District Atlanta where I’m the production manager. Read more>>
Josh Kim
We are learning everyday that creativity is a discipline. Whether that’s a video idea for our Instagram, or a new burger on the menu, our creativity isn’t a rush of inspiration… it’s days/weeks/months of researching, learning, and trying things out. By trying, what we actually mean is to make mistakes quickly, and learn from them even quicker. Read more>>
Jody Parmann
I have many ways to spark my creativity, but I believe in letting go of expectations and embracing what comes to me. When people ask what kind of artist I am, I struggle to answer simply because I explore so many mediums. Read more>>
E.E. Jacks
Throughout my life, I have made a definitive effort to search for hopeful aspects of existence. My background is quite layered with emotional experiences, struggles, and moments of heightened awareness. I mention this because it relates to how I define ‘creativity.’ For me, creating and being alive are synonymous. Read more>>
Jackie Gutierrez
One of the ways I keep my creativity alive is by reading. One of my favorite books is called ‘Steal Like An Artist’ by Austin Kleon and when I first read it in college, it allowed me to see my work in a whole new way. This book fosters creativity in your work to a whole other level that I didn’t realize I was missing out on and actually inspired me to create and self-publish two soccer magazines, which sold out as thousands of soccer fans from around the world were able to enjoy them. Read more>>
Maalik Evans
Going to the movies a lot, traveling, music, constantly reading books and scripts, being around loved ones. But the biggest one that keeps my creativity alive is really living life. Living life is so underrated for a creative, or anyone for that matter. I think some creatives get caught in that trap of locking themselves away from the world to get new ideas, and maybe that does work at times, but more often that not I find that when you just go out and really live life–it fuels you so much more. Read more>>
Jue Lin
Since I’m a visual creator, I choose to watch a lot of movies, TV shows, artworks, etc. to be inspired – of course, it’s still quite common in our profession, after all, the emotion and empathy that these works bring out is very valuable, and it makes people want to visualize their own thoughts. In addition to that, I also have a notebook where I keep track of ideas that come to me in spurts, Read more>>
Shawn Keim
Being creative in photography involves exploring unique perspectives, experimenting with different techniques, and developing your artistic vision. Here’s a detailed guide to foster creativity in photography: Read more>>
IAmGenius
By staying active and motivated looking and taking notes from other creatives to draw inspiration also sometimes i will take a break from what im working on to give my brain a moment to reset and recharge then approach it again i seem to always spark new ideas when i give myself a moment away from what im working on. Read more>>
