Creativity is Hard and That's Good?

What I learned making the art for a book I can't talk about yet

This is not work from the book. (It has the same color palette, though.)

Whew. I did it. I sent my first batch of finished artwork for a new picture book into the art director and editor for review. There will be changes (always¹), but there’s a real relief in getting work that I’m proud of out of my brain and into my hands and onto the semi-finished page. In the interest in not tempting fate or her not-so benevolent sister catastrophe, I won’t tell you how much I love the art. It really stretched me creatively and I’m here for it.

I promise to do a full breakdown of when it’s published (winter, 2025). In the mean time I can share a lesson I learned in a vague and detail-less way in the hopes you won’t stop reading.²

If you’re new to illustrating a picture book (and the following is honestly true for most creative endeavors), the enemy is risk aversion. The easy solutions can come quick and the stakes can be quite high if it’s your first book, or the publisher is one you’ve always wanted to work for, the author is famous, the manuscript exceptional, etc. Due to these dueling pressures, there is a real temptation to stay in the very narrow “I know I can do this” lane. As it goes, this is normal:

From a neurological perspective, creativity is the product of the brain making long distance connections. Most of the time, when we think about a problem, the database the brain searches for a solution is narrow. This helps us from getting swamped by data.

Our brains are lazy! We like it safe. Easy is the bee’s knees. But maaayybeee there’s a brilliant solution if you just pedal a little harder?

The process of illustrating a book is very much in the middle of this push and pull. I’ve taken some chances and played it safe. I’ve been disappointed with artwork that didn’t have a chance to be something when it grew up because my sketches were lame and boring. I’ve pushed a bit and hoped the editor will live with my loose squiggles and a promise that it will look “really great.” So here we are.

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The manuscript for the project I can’t show you yet is brilliant and purposefully sparse. There’s a lot of space to play in if you’re the illustrator. The brief had a few hints, but it was clear that I could go in a lot of different directions. And that is scary.

It’s also an opportunity:

When the brain encounters unfamiliar stimuli under uncertain conditions—especially when those are dangerous uncertain conditions—baser instincts take over. As a result, brain’s the rational extrinsic system is shunted aside in favor of the intuitive creative system.  Simply put, in an effort to save our own butts, the brain’s pattern recognition system starts hunting through every possible database to hunt up a solution.

Risk, therefore, causes the mind to stretch its muscles. It creates mandatory conditions for innovation. It trains the brain to think in unusual ways. It trains the brain to be more creative.

When confronted with a real challenge, we’re forced to be more creative. And that can fuel what feels like anxiety. Getting pushed into a more creative and innovative mindset creates a sense of being “swamped with data” as we flail about looking for a hand hold. But this is the point. It’s important. The flailing is good. It creates the ripe conditions for connecting some dots that were not on the radar at all when we first set out.

I don’t know if this book will do well. I don’t know if every choice I made along the way was a good one (and sometimes the familiar, first option was the way I settled on). I do know that I’m proud to have tried to meet the challenge in a bold way, embracing the risk and building up some creative muscle in the process.

(I hope.)

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Is it possible to make creative risk-taking just something you do? I wrote about how I’ve struggled with this before and how experimentation and play when the stakes are low are helping me grow past it.

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1. I’m amped to have some time to participate in November’s Folk Tale Week again this year. It’s a good time. I’m thinking I’ll do a special “Drawing a Blank” roundup of whatever I make. (Thumbnail image by artylitka)

2. Picture This is a must have for picture book illustrators. Molly Bang covers so much ground in a visually clear way. I bought my copy sitting in an SCBWI session immediately upon hearing of it’s existence. Not one regret.

3. I’m going to recommend a book I don’t even own yet. Illustrator’s Sketchbook by Martin Salisbury looks amazing. If you know me at all I find messy and loose art process super interesting. A whole tome of craggy and loose sketches by fellow illustrators!

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If you find Drawing a Blank helpful or encouraging, would you share it with your people? (You know the ones. The best people.)

1. I’m a fan of this stage of things. I like the process of having extra eyes on a project to catch things and push it to be the best it can be. Revision is good.

2. Hey, I’m no salesman. Read my newsletter, it’s filled with mysterious lessons about a book that won’t be out for a year! Also, I can’t show you any artwork! Tell your friends!