Art Process: Do you see the dice?

How to use your surroundings for creative inspiration.

I walked along a dirty pavement and saw a colourful dice in the mud. I stopped to marvel at it. I must have stood there a minute as a passer-by lady stopped and checked if I was ok. I reassured her I was, only got distracted by the dice. “What dice?.” she mused frowning. She discarded my attempt at explanation, however, left satisfied - my monologue proved I was physically ok and she was a good Samaritan. And … she really did not see the dice.

That is my relationship with researching reality for art. I prowl, I prey on innocent dice in mud and I sit in bushes to catch an odd sincere gesture. Of course, I use reality as direct reference also. But trawling reality for unexpected visual gold is much more satisfying. This process is honestly the top reason for my love of art and storytelling.

I am part of a Children’s Book Critique Group - Illoguild. And each month, we each answer a question here on Substack. For August it’s "How do you get inspired by your particular surroundings?”

My answer: Trawl for visual gold.

The more you train your eye - the more things you see that people don’t. Contradictions, paradoxes, hyperboles and rhymes. Every colour combination or form juxtaposition brings forward the truths about human nature. Or spotlights subtle ironies of the universe.

This is the visual nugget I used for the picture above. Notice the hands, the band, the attitude.

I here leave you with some children books where those visual gold nuggets shine bright:

1. “Beegu” by Alexis Deacon

2. “Hoot Owl” by Sean Taylor and Jean Jullien

3. “Meet The Parents” by Peter Bentley and Sara Ogilvie

4. “Stuck”by Oliver Jeffers

5. “Frank Show”by David Mackintosh

And, final question. Do YOU see the dice on the pavement?

It's there.