I started an animated short film with a while back and to be honest, the project, although having started strong, has lost most of it’s momentum. The film is called Dreams is a story of a little boy’s frustration with sleep, and his jealousy of the thrills his friends get from going to bed because they are so excited about the wonderful world that is in store for them once their eyes close for the night.

I’m currently the only digital design guy on the film project. I’m doing all of the 3D, the web and print design, marketing materials etc. I work mostly in the Adobe Creative Suite and for the 3D, my weapon of choice is MODO. It’s a tall order, but one I am deeply passionate about finishing. As you can imagine, a project like this requires ideas. Lots of them. It’s not easy to keep those ideas coming after a long day of being creative for clients.

Finding ideas, energy and inspiration for a creative side project can be a challenge, especially if you spend your days…um… being creative. Doing something outside the office that is very close to what you do in the office 8-9 hrs a day just ain’t easy. Even if you love it, it can be difficult to get work done on personal passion projects.

So, how do I get momentum back in the project? How do I do this for myself as well as the team? I Need to create new excitement, find new inspiration or maybe just revisit the old. Whatever it is I need to do, it has to light that fire so-to-speak.

A few examples of inspiration I have found over the course of my research are the following:
All different, all very talented artists.

• Code Hunters
• Salesman Pete
• Alma
• Pixels

Several ideas I’ve read or heard before are:

1. read something you normally wouldn’t
2. free write
3. walk away for a little while
4. draw or sketch

Ze Frank likes to play a little game called “That makes me think of” for new perspectives that can often lead to new creative and inspire you in a new way, or just make you excited again about working on a project that has lost traction.

Of course it doesn’t stop there. We can get tired of something AT our jobs too. If something just “doesn’t seem right” to a client or maybe they keep adding and/or taking elements of projects, or for whatever reason, it can be difficult to want to keep going because it doesn’t look like there is any end in site.

There’s no one ideal way to create inspiration. Everyone is a little different. We all see, act & respond to things differently. I’m still looking for my method. I encourage you to try out new methods of finding inspiration. Find something that helps light the fire under your ass and get you moving again, even when you just don’t want to. And if you have any great ideas, post a comment! I’d love to hear it.

North American Spine, our client, is a leading provider of a laser spine surgery procedure called The Revolutionary Accurascope™ Procedure. Envision created this 3 dimensional animated video which they use to explain this minimally invasive spine procedure which can prevent traditional open spine surgery and is superior to other so-called Minimally Invasive techniques. We completed extensive research, digital storyboarding, modeling, texturing, lighting and compositing phases to achieve a photo-realistic style.