Backstory
A while back, after being creatively blocked for a stretch, I had a series of micro-doh! realizations, the most important of which was this: growing up, I'd always thought art was about sitting around, waiting for inspiration to strike. It turns out though (micro-doh!), art and inspiration don't have to work that way. You don't have to passively receive your predetermined quota of woosh. You can work at it. You can improve. And there are actual techniques and little habits that help drive inspiration, ways to tackle a blank page, to find the end of a project, to catch and nurture ideas as they spark through the day. Most of all, there are different ways to approach the whole enterprise that can be hugely helpful in the all important mental game behind the creative process.

I compiled my own little list of what seemed to help, but I wondered what other people did, especially folks who seemed remarkably productive. The result is this ongoing series of interviews. My aim has been to gather together a pretty wide variety of perspectives -- clowns, comics, cartoonists, dancers, writers, musicians, game makers, inventors, designers, painters, so we'd learn not just what works for them, and what's the same or different across disciplines, but also a little bit about what's it's like to be a clown, a cartoonist, a dancer. It's been a little over two years now. This project continues to be a ton of fun to produce, and I'm really grateful to all the artists who've shared their time and insights.

Moving Van
For the first couple of years, these interviews lived on my blog. In April of 2009 (as I write this), we moved them over to their new digs, here at about-creativity.com. Very big thanks to Chad Capellman and Shannon who did a wonderful job with the site's design and development. Chad in particular put in huge hours and was a true partner in bringing this site together. Besides having outstanding technical chops and enormous tenacity, he was the source of many of the best ideas for reworking the site, from the neat way we treat the bios, down to the (much tidier than what we'd planned) name for the "Stage/Screen" category. Needless to say, if you're looking for a fantastic web developer....)

Navigation
If you're just getting used to what's where, here are a few quick highlight notes on finding your way around: You can get a complete list of the interviews in the Find an Artist drop-down menu on the right. The interviews are also organized by category in the menu across the top and bottom. The quote on the upper-left changes every time you refresh or go to a new page, and the name links to the source interview. And if you ever want to jump back to the home page, just click on About-Creativity in the upper-right.

You
One of the things we wanted to do was open up more of the site to content from visitors. If you get a sec, let us know what you're working on and add your take on what works for you in the Project Log and Tip (and Technique) Jar, both found in the righthand column. We'd love to hear what you've learned and what you're up to. Any feedback, comments, or questions, shoot me a note at: dbrodnitz at gmail dot com.

Thanks for visiting -- I hope you find interesting and even useful conversations throughout the site, and jump in to share thoughts, observations, and experiences of your own.

-Dan