All of us struggle at one time or another with creative block. Always striking at the worst moment, it can leave you feeling completely paralyzed. Take solace in knowing that you are not alone. It happens to everyone and is actually and inevitable part of the creative process. Breakthrough! Is a lively compilation of strategies and personal tips for combating creative ruts offered by leading international graphic designers, typographers, cartoonists, photographers, illustrators, musicians, writers and other well known creative professionals. Participants include Christoph Niemann, the award winning illustrator and children's book author; Paul Scher, graphic designer and artist of large scale paintings of America's preeminent information designers; and Ji Lee, the creative director of Facebook.
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"A small but potent compendium of field-tested, life-approved insight on optimizing the creative process from some of today's most exciting artists, designers, illustrators, writers, and thinkers. At once practical and philosophical, Breakthrough! promises to help you burst through your own creative plateaus. Whether or not it succeeds, one thing it's guaranteed to do is make you feel less alone in your mental struggles -- and what greater reassurance than that could there be?" -- Brain Pickings
About the Author
Alex Cornell is a designer and musician. He is currently working as co founder and designer at Firespotter Labs and Nosh, a Google Ventures funded startup. Prior to Firespotter, he spent three years studying design as apprentice to Scott Hansen (ISO50). He has also worked for IDEO, Plancast, Signpost, and many other Bay Area companies as a UI/UX and brand designer presence.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By JD Allen
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's okay, interesting I guess, but it's fairly thin, and seems to have comments from the same creative industries. It's not varied enough I guess. Fine for keeping next to the bed for occasional bedtime reading I suppose.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars
45 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some good ideas to help deal with artist's block.
30 Aug 2012
By E. Swope
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
As a scientist who has spent over half my life studying creativity (and gone on to become a working artist) I picked this book up with some trepidation, and fairly low expectations. I have literally read upwards of 100 books on creativity, and in my experience, the books written 30+ years ago (when it was not a hot area) were, for the most part, a good deal better than the majority currently making the rounds. That is easily explained, as the people writing then did it out of love, passion rather than to turn a quick buck. All that said, I was not expecting a lot from this book. I have to commend Alex Cornell, more editor or curator (than author) of this collection of essays, for not overstating what it gives you, not imbuing it with too much gloss or ego.
The book is a collection of essays from a variety of working artists who were asked how they deal with "creative block". There is some overlap in the recommended strategies, but that is par for the course, and points to an aspect of the process; that the mind needs to be relaxed for those ideas to "gel".
My favorite quote comes from Chris Russo, who says "If the remedy was exact, I'd patent it, design the packaging and make some money." The truth is, there is no "cure-all". Each of us has different triggers, different backgrounds, different things which work to get them going. There are, however some good ideas in this little book and enough of a variety that I think many people would find something of benefit in it.
It's an easy read, not heavy on jargon, or cute catch phrases. Genuine advice from working artists who took the time to share what helps get them going when they get stuck. Anyone who works in a creative field has been there, and it is not an enjoyable place to be, so anything which helps is a little gem. I suspect that most artists would agree that if even one of these strategies helps get them going again it was a worth-while read.
If I could I would give the book 4.5 stars. It isn't perfect (but doesn't claim to be). It's another piece of the puzzle, and maybe the piece which helps you solve yours.
The book is a collection of essays from a variety of working artists who were asked how they deal with "creative block". There is some overlap in the recommended strategies, but that is par for the course, and points to an aspect of the process; that the mind needs to be relaxed for those ideas to "gel".
My favorite quote comes from Chris Russo, who says "If the remedy was exact, I'd patent it, design the packaging and make some money." The truth is, there is no "cure-all". Each of us has different triggers, different backgrounds, different things which work to get them going. There are, however some good ideas in this little book and enough of a variety that I think many people would find something of benefit in it.
It's an easy read, not heavy on jargon, or cute catch phrases. Genuine advice from working artists who took the time to share what helps get them going when they get stuck. Anyone who works in a creative field has been there, and it is not an enjoyable place to be, so anything which helps is a little gem. I suspect that most artists would agree that if even one of these strategies helps get them going again it was a worth-while read.
If I could I would give the book 4.5 stars. It isn't perfect (but doesn't claim to be). It's another piece of the puzzle, and maybe the piece which helps you solve yours.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Buyer Beware
30 Aug 2012
By Terri J. Rice
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I loved the idea of this book. I am a painter who gets stymied for a clever subject so the title appealed to me, the idea appealed to me, expert advise appealed to me-from 90 clever people no less.
Nope. 90 people being clever is not the same as 90 people helping you to be clever.
An entire page states: "Just sweeping the floor helps sometimes." Or
"No two creative blocks are alike," a whole page for that!
"Let gravity pull you down." Say what? How the &^%$ is that going to help?
"Surf the web. Write inane tweets. Check out your high school friends on Facebook. Feel smug."
If you need a pep talk, you might find this trite book useful. If you need real help overcoming a writer's block, a creative block of any kind- not going to help. Add to that, it's a little pocket size book of around 150 small pages.
This compilation shows what a book looks like when you totally lack spark and imagination and wrote it in spite of a creative block.
Nope. 90 people being clever is not the same as 90 people helping you to be clever.
An entire page states: "Just sweeping the floor helps sometimes." Or
"No two creative blocks are alike," a whole page for that!
"Let gravity pull you down." Say what? How the &^%$ is that going to help?
"Surf the web. Write inane tweets. Check out your high school friends on Facebook. Feel smug."
If you need a pep talk, you might find this trite book useful. If you need real help overcoming a writer's block, a creative block of any kind- not going to help. Add to that, it's a little pocket size book of around 150 small pages.
This compilation shows what a book looks like when you totally lack spark and imagination and wrote it in spite of a creative block.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly Useful Collection of Ways to Overcome Writer's Block
3 Sep 2012
By W. A. Carpenter
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I must admit to some skepticism when I started reading Breakthrough!: Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block and Spark Your Imagination. This seems to be another collection of one page emails by famous people on a single topic - but in this case I didn't know who most of these famous people were. It turns out that they are designers, artists, musicians, and other creative types from New York City, England, and Scandinavia (for the most part) sharing hints on how to overcome writer's block (or other forms of creative blocks). There is surprising unanimity on the best approaches - basically you should take a walk, observe the world, and otherwise distract yourself from the problem at hand.
However I was delighted to find such an interesting array of ways to give this basic advice in 90 different voices. The editor, Alex Cornell, deserves a lot of credit for choosing well and keeping the book interesting. The book designer, Elana Schlenker, also deserves a lot of credit for intelligent and interesting design with creative pull quotes. There are a number of different things about the book layout. The colophon, usually found on the reverse side of the title page, is the last page of this book. Each page has a wide printed margin - which fades from black to blue as you go from the front of the book to the end. The font choices are distinctive but readable. Reading it was fun.
Even though I do not make a living in any of these creative fields, I found the advice inspiring and useful for dealing with the kinds of problems I face in my very different field of work. Recommended.
However I was delighted to find such an interesting array of ways to give this basic advice in 90 different voices. The editor, Alex Cornell, deserves a lot of credit for choosing well and keeping the book interesting. The book designer, Elana Schlenker, also deserves a lot of credit for intelligent and interesting design with creative pull quotes. There are a number of different things about the book layout. The colophon, usually found on the reverse side of the title page, is the last page of this book. Each page has a wide printed margin - which fades from black to blue as you go from the front of the book to the end. The font choices are distinctive but readable. Reading it was fun.
Even though I do not make a living in any of these creative fields, I found the advice inspiring and useful for dealing with the kinds of problems I face in my very different field of work. Recommended.
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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