I have a number of methods for generating ideas. It’s a result of a career as a creative director. Recognizing when I’m stuck and managing how I get unstuck is always an opportunity to take a step forward.
When I’m ready to create a new sculpture, I just start drawing. Anything. It doesn’t matter what. The important thing is to do something. Make marks on paper. Then I look at it for a few minutes. Maybe draw over the lines and add some shading. Look at it some more. Turn the page upside down. If nothing happens, skip back a few pages in my sketch book to see what I’ve drawn recently. Then return to the newest sketch. That usually helps me see something in the new sketch I didn’t see before.
The slightest hint of an alternative is a point of exploration. What if? What else can I do with it? I might redraw it and exaggerate an edge or shape. Then, redraw it again several times, modifying it a little with each version. That usually results in a fresh path of exploration. Then, it’s simply a process of pushing that idea further with successive sketches until I have something different from anything I’ve created previously.
Being stuck is nonsense. It’s a temporary lack of momentum. The trick is to create momentum in any direction and once the ideas are moving again, each will feed the next.