Hello everyone! Rummy Games team here with a new Devlog. We keep sharing stories from our developers with you. Our topic once again is the so-called 'creative block', or a 'blank sheet anxiety'. Previously, our head artist Alexey Avduevsky shared his thoughts on overcoming creative anxiety. We hope these tips might be useful both for those who make games, and those who don't. I. A Difficult Case Mr Feng’s method can be extremely effective when you are dealing with a task that is more or less straightforward. It works very well when you have a clear goal and don’t really have to invent everything from scratch. But what if you actually have to invent? What if there are no reference images or ideas to build your asset upon? Many artists come across such cases, for example, when an asset is being worked on and during the work its concept changes dramatically. Or, for some reason, there was no concept at all. These are cases when all your creativity needs to be unleashed. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1054080/view/2984184280911782936]Time to open your box[/url]. II. Alchemy No, it’s not about making a magic potion. The thing is that every visual image starts with a shape. [url=http://al.chemy.org/]Alchemy[/url] is a tool for creating shapes. So try creating some shapes, any shapes you like. Don’t worry about details at this stage, just let your unconscious do the job. In fact, it’s quite similar to gazing at clouds in the sky and ‘reading’ their shapes: this one resembles a T-rex, that one looks like a fish. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/16a6b962b98c0eb15426f1253e0f2385eb220bf6.jpg[/img] The key to the shape-making phase is not to criticise your work instantly. Give yourself some time, let your creative spark ignite and turn into a flame. You can set a purpose when drawing shapes or just do that freely, both ways are perfectly viable. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/e38ca667bdd800b24b9927dd305993eda60faf3f.jpg[/img] After some time, having selected shapes you like best, you can start thinking about passing to the next stage and fill your shape with details. By this time, your creative thinking will already have ‘switched on’, the inner engine will be ignited and warmed up properly, and you’ll be ready to take off into the creative journey of making an asset. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/c5d008b241cc71517b7818924393294023a95488.png[/img] III. Building Blocks Building blocks are a huge thing when facing a creative block. Again, the anxiety stems from the idea that you have to come up with everything at once, with a perfect image of what you’re trying to create. This is never the case. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/d2fda2592028d429a1334dab22fe1232a0f82650.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/jp/work/1510nu/]Source link[/url] Building blocks is like cooking a salad. You get your ingredients and start mixing them in various ways. And by doing that, new ideas come to your mind. Just like with shapes, using building blocks helps you soothe the anxiety and warm up your creative mind bit by bit, degree by degree. This is "~bashing" in its true sense, but it can also be divided into separate parts: kitbashing, sketchbashing, 3D-bashing and others. To understand how sketchbashing works, it's best to watch Nick Carver's performance as part of [url=https://www.artstation.com/learning/courses/A06/sketchbashing-with-nick-carver/chapters/ZNyR/part-1]"Trojan Horse was a Unicorn"[/url]. He starts by drawing a few houses which he later uses as building blocks for a bigger one. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/aa681137ddda784b804c64ed9b3f487b22035059.jpg[/img] [url=https://www.artstation.com/nickcarver]Nick Carver[/url] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/c9b11bd8957a552b55a368faa98404c33efb06f0.jpg[/img] [url=https://www.artstation.com/nickcarver]Nick Carver[/url] Like playing LEGO, this allows you to relax. Again, no need to come up with your asset immediately. Combining pieces in various ways, working on the perspective, building a nice shape — all these things can be done step by step, and bigger results can be achieved with less effort. To get a better grasp of the idea, and to enjoy some English humour, I highly recommend checking out the [url=https://www.youtube.com/c/BillMakingStuff/videos]Bill Making Stuff channel [/url]. Bill makes some really cool robots from garbage. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/7d156a84234111e04ffdc22bfbbaf704af887ea0.jpg[/img] [url=https://www.artstation.com/artwork/48lzRq]Thomas Scholes[/url] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/acfebc9a35888125a3b3a208333eba4023475bad.jpg[/img] [url=https://www.artstation.com/artwork/48lzRq]Thomas Scholes[/url] IV. Some Cheating (Or Not)? Okay, this one is a bit controversial. Some consider it cheating, others think we should make use of anything that actually can be of use. Anyway, neural networks can help a lot with boosting your creativity by lending you some. There are two NNs aimed at generating images: first is[url=https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/studio/canvas/] Nvidia Canvas [/url](requires the RTX card), the second is [url=https://www.artbreeder.com/]Artbreeder[/url]. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/19b9dad5e4765bbe143ef2cf5e18282d34d94c04.jpg[/img] NN can be a last resort when nothing else works. For example, Artbreeder can create such nice landscapes and character portraits, that it’s quite scary to think where it will be in, like, five years. As for me, when I am totally overwhelmed by nothingness, both on my sheet and in my box, I use it as a kind of magic pill. After taking a look on what it’s got for me, my brain, again, starts warming up and finishing the scene in my head: what could be happening here, or there, or what I would change, what I would fix. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34771562/ddd788aa804643a11f5998031646ae1aa3c2d4b9.jpg[/img] V. So, What's In The Box? Okay, seems like I have to end with an instructive thought. Many people would say that practice makes perfect, but let’s be honest, humdrum never really helped anyone. Sure, your skills develop over time, but the anxiety is always there. Every artist is afraid that it just won’t happen. No exceptions. Everyone is afraid that today will be that very day when things just won’t work out. The creative part of the brain will stop functioning, they won’t be able to make even a single sketch, and so on. Nothingness will prevail. Well, is there something we can do about that fear? Yes. Remember that the main weapon against nothingness is the box? Your experience, all the things you have seen, or heard, or read about, or ever imagined. This is the key. All your ideas come from your box. So, it is quite clear: fill the box with the things you like, with the things that will inspire you and those around you. Live through exciting experiences, watch beautiful things, read delightful books, listen to enchanting pieces of music. Good luck!