Here’s a counterpart to Mark’s great blog entry about using the 5W’s in creating a solid creative brief. Once you have a good creative brief, there comes the next important and scary question:

“So…uh…what’s it going to look like?”

Having found myself in this humbling place too many times to mention, here’s my own strategy for making that first mark.

• Observe and absorb. Be that person that knows lots of things about lots of things. Be curious, explore that tangent, and then soak it all up and save it. It’s ok to carry around lots of inspirational baggage. Do this all the time, so that you’re ready when that blank page gets placed in front of you.


• Adapt and curate. See what other people have done in your situation - it’s as easy as a 15-minute Google Image search. If someone hasn’t had to concept your exact idea yet, chances are there are things out there that you can imitate and change to make work for you. For instance, studying publicity film stills for 3D image composition ideas - you better believe that Hollywood wants their million-dollar investment back and will create great images for that one representative shot. When you have enough examples to “borrow” from, narrow it down to the best few, understanding fully what makes them work and what they can give to help your project.


• Be fearless, and party hard on the page. When it’s time to start concepting/designing/writing, just put out everything you’ve collected up to this point onto that blank page. Believe it or not, if you already did the first two things on this list, you’ve already been pretty thoughtful about your project, and like the visionary character in “A Beautiful Mind”, a path will eventually reveal itself from all the material you’ve jotted down. But make sure to throw it all down on that page - because you can’t connect a dot that’s not there in front of you.


• Make sure there’s an end to your beginning. Every idea has a great beginning…and a great ending. Whether it’s just an image, or a full video production with a narrative, your concepts need to have a full structure so the people making them (even if it’s just yourself) can do their job and not fall off a cliff somewhere in the middle of production. Whatever idea you come up with, make sure it’s always got an entire skeleton, and repeatable - that is, clear enough that anyone can take it and make it happen.

Here’s a link to an artist much funnier than I am, who offers similar ideas and more on how to be creative. Good luck and have fun turning that blank page into art!
http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me