How Ideas Are Born

In How Ideas Are Born, readers will find a treasure chest of images by 26 outstanding illustrators from 12 different countries that the author has gathered, selected and curated based on their special qualities and distinctiveness. The types of images and styles vary, ranging from the child-like and naïve to the poignant, suggestive and truly masterly. In addition to the 270 images, the book contains 110 drawings and pages from notebooks and sketchbooks that take the reader deeper into the nature of each artist's work. The visual elements are complemented by revealing interviews in which the artists discuss what compelled them to become illustrators, their inspirations, and the personal philosophies and creatives processes that enable them to transform an impulse or an emotion into an idea, and an idea into a unique work of art. We are told what drives and inspires them and learn about the origins of their ideas and creativity, from an innocent curiosity about shapes and colors to the desire to share something fascinating and wonderful with others in a special and original way. We also learn where creative ideas come from and how they can emerge from such varied places and activities as the unconscious, the work of other visual artists, literature, daily drawing and sketching, travel, going to the cinema and birdwatching. The featured artists also share some of their secrets to being a good illustrator, including drawing constantly, trial and error, curiosity, exploring the connections between what we see and what we feel, education, passion, and, even, failure. As we are told in the introduction, readers can approach How Ideas Are Born as experts, taking notes on each artist's reflections about the origins of ideas, illustration and their creative processes; or explore it as a child, opening the book to a random page and letting yourself be mesmerized and inspired by the richness and variety of the images.