1) Doodle. On everything. If a pen is in your hand and a solid surface in front of you, draw/scribble/write anything.
2) Add something. The missing ingredient, the one to make it a signature dish. It doesn't have to make sense and it can be taken out later, if need be. Clash and insanity sometimes work simply because they don't make sense.
3) Do the opposite. Draw out of the lines. Use white instead of black. Start with the conclusion, the background, whatever is supposed to go last. Go from general to specific, or vice versa, whatever you don't normally do.
4) Imagine shapes. Try and find the alphabet in the grain of the wood. And of course that cloud is an elephant doing a handstand on a skateboard. What else could it possibly be?
5) Try new things. A new restaurant - or at the very least, a new dish - might surprise you. Change simple things and then bigger things. New scenery equals new inspiration.
6) Observe. Try and notice what's around you and appreciate it. Drink it in and log it in your memory for later.
7) Do it twice. Reread that book you loved and comb it for funny details you missed. Sometimes potential ideas are hidden and if you go back, you might find it. And the stuff that you loved to do when you were younger? Do that.
8) Make it bigger. Take something small that no one sees and make it 1000 times the original size. Grass is really cool. And snowflakes. And the pores of sponges.
9) Take pictures. Then look at them. You'll see a lot of new things that you weren't even trying to capture. I have a few funny stories about this technique - involving animals and reproduction.
10) Stop and stare (politely). Try and find something beautiful in everything so that you never miss the chance. Everything has something beautiful about it. Find it.
*fellow artist fistbump*
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