Do you know about The Oatmeal? It’s enormously popular. Its creator, Matthew Inman, has been publishing his quirky web comics since 2009. His comics touch on a variety of subjects, including science, history, grammar, technology, and animals. He also has wonderful comic series on creativity that has a lot of great advice for anyone who is working in a creative field or who wants to be more creative in their hobbies.
But as you’ll see, creativity is not a horse. It cannot be trained or ridden. You cannot tell creativity “I would like ten of those, please.” Because creativity is not a horse. It is a mountain lion.
Eight marvelous and melancholy things I’ve learned about creativity, Matthew Inman, The Oatmeal
Inman’s eight chapters are:
- Erasers are wonderful
- Your ears are plugged
- Creativity is like breathing
- There are only bad ideas in brainstorming
- This is not a petting zoo
- The wondrous utility of self-loathing
- Killing your darlings
- The business of art
I can’t do justice to Inman’s style trying to summarize his thoughts, and it would also deprive you of the humor and insights he brings to the topic of creativity. Go check it out and see if it helps you be more creative too.
