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In How Ideas Are Born, readers will find a treasure chest of images by 26 outstanding illustrators from 12 different countries that the author has gathered, selected and curated based on their special qualities and distinctiveness. The types of images and styles vary, ranging from the child-like and naïve to the poignant, suggestive and truly masterly. In addition to the 270 images, the book contains 110 drawings and pages from notebooks and sketchbooks that take the reader deeper into the nature of each artist's work. The visual elements are complemented by revealing interviews in which the artists discuss what compelled them to become illustrators, their inspirations, and the personal philosophies and creatives processes that enable them to transform an impulse or an emotion into an idea, and an idea into a unique work of art. We are told what drives and inspires them and learn about the origins of their ideas and creativity, from an innocent curiosity about shapes and colors to the desire to share something fascinating and wonderful with others in a special and original way. We also learn where creative ideas come from and how they can emerge from such varied places and activities as the unconscious, the work of other visual artists, literature, daily drawing and sketching, travel, going to the cinema and birdwatching. The featured artists also share some of their secrets to being a good illustrator, including drawing constantly, trial and error, curiosity, exploring the connections between what we see and what we feel, education, passion, and, even, failure. As we are told in the introduction, readers can approach How Ideas Are Born as experts, taking notes on each artist's reflections about the origins of ideas, illustration and their creative processes; or explore it as a child, opening the book to a random page and letting yourself be mesmerized and inspired by the richness and variety of the images.
About the author
Miguel Ángel Pérez Arteaga is a graphic design and communication expert and co-founder of the design studio Batidora de Ideas. Author and illustrator of twelve children's books published in Spain, Mexico and Brazil, he is also the author of the book Creatividad: curiosidad, motivación y juego (Creativity: curiosity, motivation and play) in the series ¿[Re]thinking education¿ published by Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza. He participated in the exhibitions ¿Ready to Read: Book design from Spain, a selection of the best books published in Spain¿ (New York, Washington, Mexico, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Madrid and Lisbon) and ¿Ilustrísimos: An overview of children and young adults' illustration in Spain¿ at the Bologna Book Fair. A finalist in the Daniel Gil Awards (Spain) and the Biennial of Illustration of Amarante (Portugal), he has had numerous individual and collective painting, photography and illustration exhibitions. Miguel Angel Perez Arteaga is a lecturer in the Marketing Department of the University of Zaragoza (Spain).
