How to "Rewild" Your Imagination 

Have you heard of the grasshopper mouse - who eats scorpions?! The venom doesn't affect them & the mouse's body changes the venom into a pain killer, so after the first couple stings, the subsequent stings don't bother the mouse much and it can fight and kill the scorpion.

Another thing I've heard can boost creativity is to not be afraid of being bored, or of doing nothing. When I was growing up, and people had to spend time waiting, there weren't phones to keep you busy. You could talk to someone nearby, or let your mind wander, or maybe you brought a book with you, but people spent more time less occupied. I think this helps your mind be more free to just wander, and I think it also helps create a sense of calm & peacefulness that you don't see as much in the world now. This frees up your mind and gives it the space to be more creative.

I read a thing some years ago that went something like: "it's not about being smart, but about being interested." It really spoke to me, and it reminded me to enjoy the world, in all of its chaos and imperfection. Enjoy nature, cities, humans (good and bad), bad movies and worse music. Don't enjoy it for how enjoyable it is, but for the simple joy of the experience, good or bad. And when you are done, take what you can use, no matter how small the detail, and leave the rest behind. It's not always easy, but it becomes easier, and in the long run it becomes quite rewarding 🙂

I was in a creative writing class and I was taught an amazing creative prompt. The teacher handed out poems written in foreign languages. Mine was written in Chinese. We were to interpret the poem by looking at it. The unknown Chinese letters became hieroglyphics to my imagination and told a vivid story which I then wrote out. As an artist I found plenty of imagery to draw there as well. Draw what you see in clouds. In chewed gum blob on the sidewalk. the face in the knot on the tree. There are many images right in front of us.

One thing that I find can really help to kinda jump-start imagination is to whenever you direct your focus to the world around you or you notice something about your environment or whatever, start by entering the space of "what if" and go from there, for example "what if those trees were blue instead of green?" and then you have sort of laid a foundation for things to start building on that. And once you've laid a foundation, let whatever wants to build on it build on it without forcing it, cause it will come by itself if you just allow it to.

I love that you are talking of the time sucking part of social media. I been feeling that problem for several years. Expanding the issue to all unwanted txts to mobile, emails. Every shop, service, people are pushing constant messages. World survived before without all these devices, sure there are things to learn from, but it consumes life too easily.

I found your channel through the "New to You" feature on RU-vid. And Your advice is so on point for me. I was very artistic for most of my life. But I made a conscious decision to take a high stress, soul crushing job for the last 30 years for the sake of a financially secure retirement. Unfortunetly, this job really chewed up all my creativity. Now I have been retired for a year and I have been trying to jump start my artistic side again .I have been watching You Tube videos to see if that sparks anything, but I have been finding that the algorithm has been bringing up the same type vids over and over. After watching your video I am going to start carrying a small journal wherever I go. I used to do that and I would jot down ideas and quick sketches of things around me. I don't want to do what everyone else is doing, I want to do my own quirky thing. I just need to get my mojo working again. Thanks a lot for all the new ideas you have given me.

Love this. As someone that grew-up before the internet existed, I too struggle with the "infinite scroll." With everything that has happened in the last 20 or so months, I've made conscious decisions to limit my time on social media. I spend more time in books, outside and working with my hands. I'm happier for it.

Jake, seriously, every video you release feels like it was made for me and something I’ve been going through at the time. But I can’t even tell you to get your spies out of my life, because the advice is too good 😆 I’m rediscovering my library of books about art history and museums, because they’re self-contained and curated very specifically. I’m finding inspirations in things I would never have found through an algorithm.

Something I do as a mindfulness experiment and also a great source of inspiration for texture, shapes, colors, and in general an appreciation for reality is to go for a walk on some form of trail, in my city there's tons of good parks for that, and walk very slowly. I struggled to do this for a long time but eventually I decided to start trying to take macro shots with my phone and eventually this led to a passion for macrophotography in general. The amount of detail and things you can find by simply standing still at a bush or a stump or fallen tree that you'd have otherwise thought, "thats cool," and kept walking on is staggering. There's so much life, so many amazing textures and details, neat shapes that only nature would make by chance. No matter what kind of art or medium you're into you can find stories and elements that you can use by squatting down and staring for 30 seconds at what looked like an uninspired little bush. Just stop and stare. Turn a 1 mile long trail you can kill in 10 minutes into an hour of appreciation. It is so mentally refreshing.

Thanks so much for this Jake. This should be shown at all schools around the world! It is so important. Your quote from Steve Jobs, especially the line "the reason why people were able to synthesise new things is because they've thought more about their experiences than other people", reminds me of a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: "it's not that I'm so smart. I just stay with problems longer". My fear for people is that, in our instantly disposable culture, people are not staying with problems. And this even extends to new terms such as 'the right to repair' obsolete or broken technology, worn out clothing etc. As a student of SVS, I am learning that I must stay with my problems, and failures, because if I don't then I will never improve as an artist and fulfill my dream of becoming a pro.

This really struck a cord with me. Thanks Jake, I would have to agree that reading a physical book is a great idea. Also when you’re in the passenger seat of a car with your wife or significant other. Put down your phone and just absorb what you see around you as your partner drives. You’d be surprised sometimes of what you see in your local community. :)

There's some great Used book stores in New York City, as an Art student back in the days, I used to just go there and treat it like a library of books owned by previous generations of people who lived in New York city. These books were literally curated by people's tastes, especially in the Art Section you would find artists and painters never heard of. My fellow student friends would pride ourselves in finding rare gold Artists, undiscovered gems that are not "trending".

thank you. For me it was the tv watching where I noticed the big differences in how I was growing up and how my daughter will grow up. She will never know the "problem" of a show coming up that's boring or she won't ever use adverts for a pee break. I could see how very tired after a session of on-demand tv she got, where more episodes of a show or shows of similar style are offered at the end of an episode and she would be so mad when it was time to switch it off. I started worrying what it does to her brain and her imagination. So we switch on real tv more often instead and we coined the terms "binge watching" and "tv tv" for her to make a difference between the two types. You put it very good in words and helped me understand.

For me, listening to a vinyl record that matches the mood of whatever I’m drawing at the time is incredibly helpful for this. It’s a similar thing to buying physical books, there’s something so much more immersive that comes with owning a physical copy of a piece of music.

I'm surprised. I thought this was going to be another "social media bad, end discussion" video, but I feel like this is a much more intelligent approach. Social media is a tool, and it's up to you to use it right. Find the weird stuff, and approach it openly and non-judgmentally, rather to examine someone else's perspective in a healthy manner. Good video, very openminded as well.

The moments were I've imagined the most detailed and interesting things were when I was bored. Just a history lesson, or having an hardtime falling asleep or just waiting for a bus. I would just stare at the floor, or sky or way more often then I like to admit someone, and just enter my fantasy world. Sadly I can't bring any of it out since I can't draw, but! I'm training to hopefully one day be able to draw, just as an hobby, but a good one.

Feels like you're speaking directly to what I've been feeling lately. I find myself scrolling through Instagram and Facebook, without any emotion or connection to what I'm looking at. It's truly becoming more of a distraction and maybe even an addiction than anything.

Great insights. I know for me what helps with rewilding my imagination or resetting my attention span is putting myself in situations where I'm FORCED to be bored and have to daydream and delve into my own thoughts or surroundings. Stuff like not letting myself listen to a podcast or music for a portion of a drive, or drawing in total silence for a while.

I feel scrolling is bad. I still do it, but I’ve noticed how toxic it is. When I’m feeling inspired I go through google and pintrest to find references but then I click on an image and it leads me to another image, and another, then another. Before I knew it I had spent almost two hours just looking at photos and artwork than actually getting anything done. Your video just helped me realize that and now I’m gonna do my best to fight that urge to just browse and actually draw

Love your wisdom, Jake! I find learning different subjects helps, like biology, psychology, history etc. Especially now that I've been out of school, I have to seek information deliberately

What helps me is to watch old movie form the 80-90's, action cartoons with character development and reading 📚 bronze age comic books. They help when I'm stuck with some ideas 💡 but it's more of making a visual library in my head when I'm writing ✍ or drawing.

Loved where you took this, Jake. It's so valuable to step off the algorithm train and actually observe where it had been taking you (most likely in circles). A lot of your alternate strategies rang true with me too - I stopped using Twitter a few years ago, but still have a few artists' likes pages bookmarked - browsing them specifically I can still feel in control, and it's finite. Another thing that's been an important rewilding for me has been foreign language film - not only are they usually set in very different cultures to mine but they often come from completely different storytelling traditions. I am frequently amazed at what a story can be that's outside of the European/American model.

I just realized that you drew my favorite comic when i was growing up (missle mouse). It was a very plesent surprise.

I like a lot of what you're saying and I've been thinking the same thing for a long time. I actually dropped social media for a year and a half and only came back because I had found my creative motivation again and actually had stuff to share (where before it was just scroll, consume, scroll, consume, ...). I like your advice about going back to physical books, that something I've done lately. I just don't retain e-books the way I do after reading a physical book. Something that helps me with my creativity is listening to albums front to back, preferably on a physical medium. I bought a CD player last year and dusted off my old CD collection, got on discogs and bandcamp and added a few more since then. It's been nice, especially taking a chance on some artist I've never heard of. Sometimes I love it, sometimes it's complete meh, but it really helps me feel inspired. In a similar vein, I also really like watching TV shows on DVD, 1 episode at a time. The option's there to bing watch for a while, but it's so much harder to bing watch more than a few episodes at a time because once the disc ends, it kind of prompts me to take a break. Right now, I'm trying to keep a book at my desk while I'm working. Its so easy to jump on social media when I've got that 4-10 minutes between tasks/meetings, etc, but it never feels good. At best, I find something moderately funny, at worst I get sucked into an argument and put into a foul mood. Keeping a book around is a nice prompt that I don't need to read dozens of pages to make progress in a book. I can read a paragraph or a sentence at a time as I have spare time in the day.

This is the most interesting topic, not to everyone but as a fellow artist struggling with the same problem, it feels really "On point". Well presented. Algorithms have taken away all notions of randomness and do not recognize the human need for discovery that fuels artists. The purpose of Art is to see things in a new way and share that with the audience.

I just love how he is wearing a Pizza Planet shirt and The Good The Bad and The Ugly is in the background

It's also a matter of finding "nutritional value" in art. You can look at your favorite contemporary artists, but it's likely to be much more fulfilling to find-out what artistic influences they were taking in and study their work.

One technique that I love doing is writing down stuff that I find interesting and then randomly pick 2 subjects to see what idea it could spark

Honestly just finding something (or, ideally, several somethings) that gets a creative flow going is nearly foolproof in my experience. Sometimes you’ll just have an of day where nothing works and you have to remind yourself that it’s fine to just do nothing for a while. For me, listening to audiobooks and music works best.

SOOO nice that you're posting more regularly againg! 🙌 I'm really enjoying your talks! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about "rewilding" and unplugging the algorithm inspiration 🙏

Just purchased the book. Looking forward to it.

Love seeing “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” playing on your computer in the background!

This was great. I've noticed lately that a lot of new children's book artists all have a very similar style. I was having a hard time telling them apart from each other. The art is very good but all the same. So it seems like they were all being fed the same inspiration and seeing the same art.

Very good question!! I really agree and today it feels much easier to get a step further through inspiration from printed magazines too, for example, one which represents tattoo-studios with their best works from over the last year. Some interesting subjects out of social media scope - it reflects some kind of "Zeitgeist" what the clients are living in and of course there were some sweet decorated milk-packs, too. But the few felt like an strong real inspiration what me leads to sit down and draw it as an exercise. My eyes had the chance to calm down and enjoy the process from referencing again. In social-media it's like a nightmare because the scrolling is an never-ending story until the brain say: overload and rest please.

that's wild. I think a lot of us have been feeling this online bombardment of mental space lately. in these past two years since the start, I have read fewer books and spend more time on social media talking to no one. I'm getting ready to delete non essential and be ready to network in real life. Go and meet people in real life. People aren't perfect and that's what makes it beautiful. It's good to hear from you, Jake. Cheers!

I found your Inktober prompts was s good exercise in researching and drawing topics that I wouldn't normally draw on my own. The process of interpreting a prompt was just as much of the creative process as drawing it. And I purposely avoided what everyone else already drew.

The "unfollowing" point is something that I was considering for a time. I follow around 700 artists, being like 100 my IRL friends/mates, and even when I really like all that 700 accounts, it's obviously impossible to consume all that art. Furthermore, some days ago I needed to note some of my "art heroes" from memory, and I just wrote like 15-20 artists. Are they my favorite artists? I don't know, maybe, or maybe they're just the more memorables. But it was really surprising (and somehow refreshing) seeing how 700 persons were summarized to 20 by my brain.

Another great video. I love that You have the Good the Bad and the Ugly playing in the background, such a great film.

That quote hit me, great video JP.

It's uncanny that you seem to pick the timely topics that really resonate. I don't know how you are doing it, but this is what I needed to hear. It has occurred to me that you might actually just be part of the algorithm?

Great thoughts and suggestions, Jake! I actually avoided using Pinterest this year during Inktober for similar reasons. Relying on mostly books, magazines, photos I look from life, and weird ideas in my head was hard, but produced some very interesting results.

It is always a good day when Jake uploads a new video!!! ✨✨✨

When I have spare money, I’ll get the book. I like your art

I'm so glad I found this video. Thank you for the added perspective. Finding things that genuinely broaden my perspective has become a rare treat the older I get... And I don't think it's just the quarantine.

Such a great post + drawing Jake! Keep up the amazing work man. God bless-

hey Jake! Thank you for the video! I left social media entirely for those same reasons. I now only browse specifically when I need reference and inspiration as if I were at a library. It helps to search something specific rather then being fed by the algorithm.

Today i had to concept some creatures in ONE WEEKEND. So, I grabbed my oldest animal book, and without looking for wolves, lions or other "cool" animals, I just went with the flow. Random info often bring the best stimuli, and only after the brainstorm i start "rendering".

The AI generated art that's been generated by AI is starting to show me things that are exciting and that I didn't know I liked. Like, there is a video where the AI has created a completed picture of the Mona Lisa, and the background has expanded into this brooding sky which, as it gets closer to the top turns into the water for a map. It's really cool

I have been wondering how to break away from the algorithm and then the algorithm suggested this video on how to break out of the algorithm. I believe that at this point most people see, and even accept, that social media uses the same mechanisms as chemical addictions, such as nicotine, for example, to keep us locked in. Where I think the observation is incomplete is in how these mechanisms are not adding anything to our lives other than the fear and discomfort of their absence. I am delighted to find these suggestions on ways to get back to our pre-addicted selves. Thank you for sharing this and the original article.

Clicked for the cool art and punchy original title, liked for the Pizza Planet shirt, subscribed for the instant introspection and the anti-blah blah attitude, but I watched to the end because you're just a really chill dude and I can tell you have a mountain of passion for this subject. I look forward to being a part of your wonderful community for years to come.

This was totally not what I was expecting by the title, but great!

Been thinking about this concept since you posted your newsletter last week. My internship involves designing UI/UX for 3D experiences and it's so different to what I'm used to, but it's been extremely fun and exciting. I think part of it is because I haven't been glued to social media looking for inspiration, but rather looking at real world, 3D, and weird things

I rarely comment on anything. But I'd like to say thank you Jake. This was something I really needed to hear today. And it's an important conversation. And moreover, it's refreshing to hear people having more of a discussion about ideas like this. Philosophy about artists and how we can experience the world is an important and something I personally feel there is a void for, that should be filled. For me, this was a good message at a good time. So thanks amigo.

Something similar (rather, re-worded lol) to the Steve Jobs quote is a lesson I learned a few years ago, from some random RU-vid influencer class ad or something. It was talking about some remix strategy for content ideas. Over time I built on the lesson a bit so this isn’t the original lesson I learned: Human creativity isn’t actually CREATE-ivity (as in, we can’t possibly make something from nothing). It’s more like remix-ivity, or mixing things together to make something “new” that’s actually just based off of preexisting stuff. Once I learned that, I became a bit more aware of things to get inspiration from. A few things to try out are taking two completely random/different things and trying to mash them together somehow (warning: very few of these are likely to be good ideas lol, but I did get a good one from three things I enjoyed that happened to be similar enough/workable enough to blend) (also this particular exercise just got me started in “connecting dots” and I don’t really use it much nowadays, so take it for what it’s worth), carrying a notepad and pen with you and writing every idea that pops in your brain (even the bad cringey ones) and later on you can go back and re-read your unused ideas to get inspiration, and, if you have a day to waste because this will definitely eat your time, going down a Google/Wikipedia rabbithole with looking at different kinds of animals and their adaptations (or whatever topic you’re interested in). I recommend Wiki over Google because the links are on the webpage without algorithm shenanigans and it’s easier to rabbithole through. Also, be bored. The advice in this video is much more refined and helpful; I just wanted to share this in case it helped someone a little. God bless you!

So much gold here!

This is very valuable, thanks for doing these videos. Earlier this year i decided to start an art channel on youtube in order to reignite my forgotten passion for drawing (not a professional artist).I was on a hunt for examples of art channels that deliver value on a personal level that goes beyond the craft or profession (eg tutorial channels, Proko..), and not pure entertainement (eg Jazza, Gawx). Took me a long time and i was starting to think there aren't any, so I'm sooo glad i found you!! Subscribed ❤ and bell on 🔔

oh cool I've been working on this exact thing

Fantastic artwork and skill my friend. Love it.

A much needed video and topic, thanks!

Another golden motto to strive for. Love these types of videos.

Years ago, doing an all-nighter, I listened to documentaries on the radio (BBC). I learned all kinds of fascinating things about boxing and butterflies! Now that there are podcasts, and you can choose what to listen to, I would never think of listening to either topic.

Gold.

Amazing Jake, this is so important. You've been such a positive influence in my journey as not only as an Artist but as a human being.

Man !! the best talk i,m hear ever . Thank you. D

The section on social media algorithms feels right on the money. They're great at showing you things you already like, but not so good at showing you things that are new. In gaining control of our media feeds and experiences we've largely lost the joy of finding something unexpected.

i always get a little apprehensive when thinking about how to notice things we dont notice often because the first things we think as exemples of things we dont see are not gonna be that unobvious, understand? but for him to write about that and actually have something that is news for me he also have to have been similar in my ignorance in a way. it is weird, but i will check the book out

Great video, Jake. I think this is such an important thing to consider, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Really dig that intro as well.

Great video!

Awesome mech snake ! I am a hobby artist myself. I have a 6th gen. iPad with Apple Pencil. I have been drawing physical art (non-digital) since I was a kid. 2018 I got my 6th gen. iPad and I have been also drawing digital art since 2018.

Hey Jake! Would you ever consider doing a Drawings Book Bundle Set?

I think I happened upon a gem of a video and a gem of a channel :0

I'd say this kinda works, I mean, a couple months ago my brother started insisting that I buy Red Dead Redemption 2, and this became a back and forth for a couple weeks talking every day about it, until I got convinced. I didn't like westerns before that and oh boy... a whole world opened to me. The west was so full of mythology and mysteries that it could pretty well be a fantasy world of its own. The conflicts between settlers and natives, between americans and mexicans, the outlaws, the lawmen, the hidden treasures, the discovery of new lands, new resources, new ideas. What a great era. But, at the same time, west fiction has everything I like about fiction, I like horror, I.E. inspired me to write weird west fiction. I don't think it would work with any new subject that comes my way. For instance I never liked mafia, narcos stories, they're so mundane... I never liked spies and war stories either for the same reason. Very few sci-fi stories really catch my eye, mostly those that work with supernatural elements at their root, like Dead Space. So, the new interest kinda has to have some overlap with old interests for it to really spark the "imagination" trance. IMO.

I had just realized that my social media was giving me the same type of content and nothing seemed new or creative. Very timely.

Great thoughts, thanks for sharing! I find listening to NPR has given me a lot of random topics I’d never thought about before. Traveling to new places also can open up a lot of new ideas.

Thanks for this Jake, this has definitely given me a lot to think about.

Great design as always,i like that not only You draw a charcter,You also give piece of advice that it is useful in life,no matter where we are,or what nationality,that really helps in Many aspects,good Luck, greetings from Perú 😺

Had to subscribe just because you're such a truthful artist, and awesome with art !

A good thing to help rewild your imagination is, I think, watching the news 2-3 times a week. Just to see what is going on in the world. Beyond the little scope that is your social media account. And try out new social media platforms too. Where you don’t have a whole algorithm built for you yet. Also you can make a new account for a fresh start. I go to (comic)bookstores too every week

This was really great, Jake. Thank you.

I remember when I was a kid, I was combining ideas of subjects that I found interesting even though they had no link together whatsoever, and it gave birth to some really interesting ideas. At the time I was really tripping at concepts that came from the sea, warriors, technology and greek mythology and quite possibly dragons. A god that can transforms into a sea dragon? Poséhydro (mix of poséidon and hydro), a sentient machine combined with coral? Corobot. A Shark Samurai? Sharkurai. An atlantian with a cyber with a cybernetic tail that can transform into a fish tail and legs for when he goes on land? Aquamarine (I couldn’t find any clever pun name at the time so I just gave it the name of a rock that I found pretty). Honestly making wild ideas up isn’t about being smart, it’s about loving what you do and inventing reasons to make those ideas combine together. Smart peoples will combine things that make sense together and will make them have sense together. Creative people will combine things together that have no link whatsoever and invent the link. If I said anything that remotely inspire you, feel free to share, be wild and passionate!

Thank you jake it was really helpful and also recently buyed and read the missile mouse book 1 it was so amzing thanks for the video and comic

Thank you sir

Did you know that there is a kind of sea snail that lives on the edges of udersea volcanos. It has a shell made with iron and can survive temperatures of up to 750° centigrade. (That or ferrenheit, i cant remember)

Thank you for the video

I got something out of this. Great stuff to take my mind back 🙏

"The most valuable human resource requiring conservation is our own consciousness and mental space." *Pull that shit up, Jamie*

Jake, this is a timely video! Great thoughts, here.

another way to rewild is to study another language, once you experience a new culture in the intimacy of its own language you can discover incredible things!

Me, reading the title: Cool! Actually watching the video: Oh…

Awesome video Jake!

Nice work!

I'd love to see a video on the topic "how to find your story trust"

Amazing video, thank you I’ll be thinking about this for a while. The stuff about what creativity is particularly struck home. If you haven’t already seen it, I strongly recommend the documentary series ‘Connections’ by James Burke (as well as “The Day the Universe Changed”). They are broad human histories that focus on how technologies change (Connections) and how ideas change (The Day the Universe Changed). They broadened my perspective more than my whole arts degree, and give a lot of material for imagining and for rewilding and for understanding our selves in different ways. Thanks again for the video

Interesting video. Thank you for suggesting a book _Gwelf The Survival Guide_ ("gwelf" artwork reminds me of _wind in the willows)

Great video! Arstation is great for looking for inspiration.

Such a great video!

I look at pinterest and other places and search up the kinds of things that I imagine and make, and usually I come up with the page that says "No results" then again I spent my youth without the internet, I was raised in the woods, raised on films, records, and books that spanned from the 1920's to the early 2010's. every genre. nothing was off limits. unfortunately I can't say that I'm skill at art. my parents burned my art for 30 years. I have made all kinds of interesting races and mechanical objects, including mechs made entirely out of flesh and bone in a feasible way, robots of human size and weight that were actually human enough to pass, in every way, and these are just the ones I figured out how to do in real life. most of what I've made will never see the light of day because it was burned the day I made it.

Happy Hanukkah Parker.

1. I keep unsubsribing stuff when I get bored with them. 2. I read old-old books from 1000-1800.