089 - Improv on Paper: Unleashing Creativity in the Cartoonist Way with Jonathan Plotkin and Pat Byrnes

How can you use the creativity of a daydream to solve a very real problem? Being able to access creative thought when necessary is a skill and it can be taught, much like any other discipline. 

Founders of The Drawing Board, Pat Byrnes and Jonathan Plotkin are cartoonists who facilitate creative workshops. They teach participants how to unlock creative thought using cartoonist exercises and processes. They can then use these tools in other aspects of their career to help generate creativity, problem solve, and more.

We had a fascinating discussion about the psychology behind cartooning, including why art creates a safe space to disagree and how you can surprise yourself through improv. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did, and that it inspires you to pick up a pen and start cartooning!

Find out about:

• How cartooning facilitation works
• How to access the discipline of cartooning to help your career
• The three components of a cartoon and how they relate to the creative process
• What exercises Pat and Jonathan use in their workshops and how they establish them as tools for future use
• Why improv unlocks creative thoughts
• The psychology behind combining your daydreams with reality
• How doodling can help you engage 
• How art can be a safe space to facilitate disagreement 

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Questions and Answers

[01:17] – Would you call yourselves facilitators?

[08:18] – What makes a good cartoon? How do you introduce quality into your group sessions?

[10:44] – How do you teach people to use a cartoonist’s way of thinking?

[13:51] – How do you get a group to improv using paper?

[18:08] – What do you mean when you say improv on paper?

[27:56] – Is focusing on a daydream to bring it to reality different in cartooning to drawing? Can we learn how to do it?

[36:16] – How can building a cartoon can help groups collaborate better or to solve a problem?

[42:41] – What makes a bad cartoon?

[43:30] – How would you turn a bad cartoon into a good cartoon?

[45:21] – What makes a workshop fail?

[49:12] – How do we find meaning?

[52:55] – What’s the one thing you’d like listeners to take away?

Links:

• Jonathan and Pat's website
• Episode 49 with Sunny BenBelkacem 

Connect to Pat and Jonathan:

• Pat’s LinkedIn
• Jonathan’s LinkedIn 

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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