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Learn with art agent Lilla: how to thrive with a creative mind (spoiler alert: time management tips inside!)

Lilla here. Today I want to talk to you about what the creative mind is like, how you can understand and embrace it, and how to thrive with a creative mind.

how to thrive with a creative mind

I’ve been working in creative careers for decades – first as a full-time illustrator and as an art agent for 27 years – and I’ve taught creative people for decades too, all the way from middle school kids to professional artists. I’m obsessed with getting the very best out of creative people – both the artists I represent and my wonderful students. In other words, I have a creative mind myself, and I know exactly how to teach other people with creative minds and to help them thrive.

So, what’s the creative mind like? Typically, a creative person is very intense. They can hyperfocus, by which I mean focus on one tiny thing deeply and for a long time. They tend to focus on the minutiae, the smaller details of things.

Plus at the same time, creative people have tons of ideas and thoughts: their brain is like a crowded closet, so full that it can be hard to know where to begin.

A creative mind is amazing because you’re unique and quirky and fizzing with incredible ideas, and you just want to make brilliant art (or craft, or poems, or music) and fill the world up with amazing things. But you might also have experienced either or both of these:

  • Hyperfocus can mean that perfectionism creeps in: you get caught up in making every little bit just right.
  • Sometimes your mind is so full of thoughts and ideas, that you get overwhelmed and don’t know where to start or what to focus on, and that’s where procrastination sets in.

Does any of that sound like you? Me too.

how to thrive with a creative mind

Just some of the gorgeous products the artists I represent have illustrated. Let me show you how you can get cool gigs like these!

How to thrive with a creative mind

So what do we do about it? As someone who has that kind of mind and as someone who understands how that kind of mind works, I’ve honed the way that I teach. The way that I approach it is to just give you a little tiny bit at a time: if you’ve already taken my courses, you know that I start you off with a mini assignment, biting off just a little.

This allows you to hyper focus on that one thing and go really deep with that one topic, whether it’s to draw turtles or paisleys or cuckoo clocks or whatever. Focusing on one small subject is so much easier for a creative person than a broad, open assignment like “Draw your favourite country”: with something like that, there are just too many choices and too many ideas, and it’s just too overwhelming. By narrowing the first assignment down to just a tiny thing which the artist can focus on and perfect, you sidestep perfectionism and procrastination.

And then when you get the second, main part of the assignment, you’re already part of the way there, so it’s much less overwhelming. That’s just one of the ways I trick you into making your very best art.

how to thrive with a creative mind

My Calm Down chair in my studio is a place to sit and gaze out and allow ideas to come to me. Perhaps you could set up a similar area for yourself, if it would be helpful.

Time management tips for creative people

The second part of learning to thrive with a creative brain is time management. How to manage your time is something that artists are always asking me about.

Creative people aren’t a good fit with a strict timetable, like today we’re going to research from 9-10, then do sketching from 10-11, and so on.

What I teach instead is a form of time management I call clumping: working in clusters of time when you’re feeling most energetic. You’ll know yourself that your energy levels go up and down during the day, so schedule what you need to do in clusters around different parts of the day. Creative work is really tiring, so you’ll probably find that you can only work in a few small clustered sessions.

For example, if you feel most alert and refreshed and like your brain is working best in the morning, you could schedule all your research for the morning. Then in the afternoon, maybe after a bike ride to get your energy levels back up, you could start sketching out your color palettes and doing some drawing and so on. Whatever works for you.

So there you have it! That’s a taste of how I teach my online courses, and I find incredibly effective in bringing out the best in my students and helping you to thrive with a creative mind.

Xo
Lilla

P.S. My NEW class for 2021, My Toy Pitch, starts Monday, July 5th, and I couldn’t be more excited! Join me and my course co-teacher, Riley Wilkinson – creative director, inventor of the smash hit Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel game, and Toys, Games, and Children’s Entertainment agent at my agency – for a FREE public Zoom event on Monday, July 5th at 12 noon ET/5 pm BST and hear all about it. Set an alarm on your phone now!

bookyourplacenow 1 Make Art That Sells Learn with art agent Lilla: how to thrive with a creative mind (spoiler alert: time management tips inside!)

toy pitch rect 1 Make Art That Sells Learn with art agent Lilla: how to thrive with a creative mind (spoiler alert: time management tips inside!)

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