How Hansel and Gretel Can Help You With Painting Ideas!

A creative dry spell is not fun. You’re in the mood to do some painting--just one tiny problem--you're all out of ideas.

You've been hanging out online. You checked out some painters you like--but they are all so amazing you had to quit before you started copying them--intentionally or not.

So what now? Give up and wait for inspiration to strike?

Think you might have to just hang out until an idea comes along? When your muse has some free time for you again? You might be waiting for longer than you’d like...

No, the thing to do is work around it. To take charge of the creative situation--since that’s what we’re all here for--to DO the things!

There's a long tradition of artists reinterpreting classic tales and historic events.

It comes from a real appreciation for the work of the artists in the past, and our need for storytelling.

It also has something to do with the fact that there aren’t any truly new stories, just reimaginings and reworkings of the same stories through time.

I’ve heard it said that even by the time Shakespeare came along, all the original stories had all been done!

Well that’s a relief for all of us creatives, now we can just do our thing and stick to being ourselves, that’s original enough!

So, with that thought in mind, here’s one way to circumvent the inevitable dry spells and work the system.

It might just turn into bonafide inspiration and become a big project--or it might just work some underused creative muscles, which will absolutely help you down the line.

I call this The Hansel and Gretel Exercise...

...because I like the sound of it--and the candy house--but any classic story will do. The idea is to choose a tale that you already know, and can look up a key scene pretty easily.

Fairy tales work great for this because they are short and full of fantastical descriptions.

When I think of Hansel and Gretel, I’m thinking of the tame kid’s version of the tale...

Novelists who paint great pictures with words are excellent for our purposes too--anything with a dramatic flair or strong imagery that you can take full advantage of.

So here’s how it works...

Just pick a scene, or a couple of them (not something from a movie--your imagination needs to kick in from written words for this).

Read through the scene, write down your impressions, make a list of all the things that spring to mind as you read it. Really take in the scene and see it.

Don’t worry about imagining the painting, just see what you see.

Then go back through and make another list --this is a list of all the actual things that the author told you was true. You’ll probably find that your imagined list is longer than the one from the actual book. That’s the magic of the written word--the images great writers create are more than the words on paper.

So you have these two lists...

Some of the items are the same, some you’ve added.

Start loosely sketching the scenes in your mind, and use as many of the details from the writer’s list as you can. Imagine that you are the illustrator for this book, and it’s important that you add in as many details as you can--so you can delight the nerds like us who will be looking for them.

If the whole scene is too much to wrangle, you don’t have to try and capture it all. Just go ahead and focus on the parts you like the best, with as much detail as you can handle. After all, the point of this is to follow your imagination and get to the good stuff.

So you have your idea sketched in...

Now is where you start to really experiment with it or reinterpret it completely. You can paint it as accurately as possible, or play around with the scene like it’s a set and you are the production designer with free reign to change things up. It can be a picture to render faithfully, or a jumping off point if other ideas are coming in.

You can change the furniture, the setting, the season, the clothing or costumes. The lighting, hairstyles, or what’s being focused on the most.

Manipulate the colors--make it more colorful, less saturated, warmer, cooler toned, crisp and clean, or dull and muted. You can try this all with the same few colors or try out a few palette ideas on paper beside the image.

If you like the story enough, work out all the details of the scene in your notebook. Then make it a full painting, and maybe try a few more to make a series.

If you want to focus more on the details, you can use them as studies for future projects--or make those into new paintings.

The imagery that the story calls for will likely have you painting things you wouldn’t normally choose to paint. That will help with your range. It can be fun to take on someone else’s set up and let your imagination run wild. The process can tap into the creativity that made you want to pick up a brush in the first place--bonus!