Creativity and LEGO comics
Two LEGO comics about linguistics
Dear readers,
I realized that I haven’t shared with you yet any of my LEGO comics about linguistics, which were the initial inspiration for my comic creations! I get asked a lot why I started creating comics with LEGO. It’s an unusual place to start, and drawing would seem like a more straightforward way into the comic world. I thought a bit about it and found out that my answer can be useful to anyone doing something creative (including academics!).
There are two main reasons LEGO worked well as my introduction to comics:
Low bar for entry: For a LEGO comic, you just need some LEGOs and a phone. In my case, I had comic ideas and no confidence in my drawing skills, so I came up with this solution to express myself. The lesson here for any creatives is to try and lower the entry bar: Make it easier to start doing what you want, even if you don’t have the skill yet. Start small!
Kills the fear of a blank page: When I am faced with a blank page, LEGO limits the endless possibilities of what my comic could be about. I decide which pieces I want to use and think about a possible story. Because the theme is limited by the available LEGO pieces, the page is not so blank anymore and the fear of endless possibilities is gone! And I end up writing about topics I might not have considered initially. If you are interested in hearing more about how limiting your toolkit can boost your creativity, check out my post on this topic on Medium.
Eventually I got into drawing comics, and maybe that is my final goal, or maybe it will lead me to something else. My point is: Don’t rush your creative process and allow it to lead you different ways of expressing yourself, or for academics, different methods of figuring out the problem.
So, here are two of my favorite LEGO comics based on my linguistic fieldwork experience in Vanuatu. If you like the comics, let me know by liking, commenting, or sharing! :)
Happy reading and creating to everyone!
Ana
