5 books that rescue creativity

Tips, prompts and creative hints hidden in great books

I quite regularly find myself in a creative slump.

Mainly this is because I’m exhausted and my only time to create something is in the evenings when I’ve wrangled my kids into bed.

The other issue I find is:

I don’t know what I want to make

I’ve realised one of the quickest ways I’ve found to get round this feeling and back into making something is to grab inspiration from one of my favourite books and get going from there.

Most of these books have a journal-based theme, as I am currently obsessed with creative journaling, but I’m hoping some of the ideas would be useful to most, or they could be curved to aid each artform or whatever it is you’re currently making.

Syllabus by Lynda Barry

This book is wonderful.

I feel like my description won’t do it justice but here goes: it’s a visual, hand drawn classroom workbook, blending lesson plans and writing exercises brought to life in doodles, collages, sketches and watercolour washes.

This sounds bizarre. Barry is a cartoonist, and this book is her set of lessons to teach anyone, (including those who say they’re not creative or can’t draw) how to journal, keep a notebook, and be inspired.

Even if you don’t end up making anything, after reading a few pages I think the creative slump will have left your body completely.

I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking for this one:

Treasure Bookmaking by Natasa Marinkovic

Hopefully the above explains this one, and how the idea can transfer to all artforms.

You need a book which uses really clear instructions to teach you a new skill.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m into junk journaling, making books, basically all paper crafts. When I feel particularly stuck I’ll grab Natasa’s book and teach myself a new skill, such as a new binding technique or bookmaking method. .

I have a few books on crafting handmade journals and this is my favourite, with clear instructions which I find really easy to follow. If you’re interested you could check out Natasa’s YouTube channel: Treasure Books

Here’s a couple of pics from the book too:

How to Journal Like an Artist by Jane Maday

Another good way of getting out of the slump is to look at someone who is doing work in your field but mixing it with something else.

So when my journals feel stagnant, and I’m sick of looking at pages of my own handwriting I like to find books about using art to add to your journal.

Jane Maday’s style of illustration is really aspirational but the way she breaks down her pages makes it feel accessible to me and I can pop a few doodles in my pages to make them look a bit more interesting.

Art Journal Art Journey by Nichole Rae

What I love about this book is it takes some very beautiful and free-looking art journal pages and breaks them down into stages of how to make the page. Sometimes I can feel completely overwhelmed by looking at other people’s art journals on Pinterest etc.

I go in, looking for inspiration but then come out feeling like I have no idea where to start, which supplies to take out, what to write, it can be paralysing.

Nichole Rae breaks down how to make a beautiful page into easy chunks. Reading this book feels like someone grabbing your hand and saying “sit down, this is what we’re going to do to get you making again.”

And of course: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

I didn’t feel it would be possible to write a post on books for creative slumps without mentioning The Artist’s Way.

It needs no introduction.

I may write a little post about how I got on with TAW at some point, but in summary, I didn’t get very far but the morning pages are an absolute life-changer for me.

The idea of morning pages is that first thing in the morning you grab a notebook and write out three pages, in a stream of consciousness style. This helps you to clear any creative blocks, and find your inner voice.

The way this evolved for me is I now sit down each morning (at some point - not first thing as I have children bouncing on my head from 6am) and rather than a stream of consciousness….

I PLAN WHAT I’M GOING TO MAKE THAT EVENING

This may sound a bit extra and unnecessary to some, but to me, creativity is essential to my mental health, planning it gives me something to look forward to, and as I said before, I’m too knackered by the evening to come up with any ideas.

I hope this article has been useful.

Which books would you recommend to inspire creativity?

Until next time,

Heppy x