From nothing to something.
Imagine you're falling from the sky. Clouds fly by, some ducks, an airplane, various objects that you try to grab onto, but nothing works. Then, you see a forest below. You manage to grasp at the treetops, something almost works, but you keep falling. Finally, just before hitting the ground, you accidentally catch hold of a branch that saves you. From there, you slide gently down the tree trunk and land safely on a beautiful meadow.
This is how I sometimes feel when I use the “free fall” approach in creativity, which is what I want to talk about today.
When I do commercial projects, everything starts with a brief. The task itself shows you the way to go and what to do. Because of this, there is a feeling that an advertising project is a car trip with a map in hand. Sometimes it’s exhausting, sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s an off-road adventure, and other times it’s Formula 1. But when you do it often enough, many things start to repeat themselves, and the process of creating something new gets dull. Why bother inventing new routes when you already know how to reach the destination?
So today I'm going to show you how I break myself out of the monotony.
Free fall
I call this method “free fall” because you start doing something without any plan and hope that something will work out.
Here’s a video that resulted from this approach:
The Process:
1 Start with Music
I collected random sounds on my phone and generated a bunch of music using AI. Then I started playing with it in Ableton. I have no real knowledge of music-making, so for me, this is pure playfulness and that’s what keeps it fun.
2 Sketch Chaotically
At the same time, I sketched a bunch of chaotic doodles in my notebook. While doing this, I realized my mind kept focusing on a cat figure.
(Of course, it’s obvious why)
But I still don't understand what I'm doing.
3 Follow Emerging Structure
After finishing a short chunk of music, I noticed it had two distinct parts: a calm section and an expressive one. I latched onto this and started selecting sketches that reflected those moods.
4 Animate the Story
While I was animating, I consciously saw what shots were missing and added them, because only now I saw the story in it. This tree saved me from hitting the ground.
Story:
This is so me — when I don’t draw for a long time, a sense of dissatisfaction builds up inside me, and I might end up taking it out on someone else, snapping at them.
When you see a finished piece that started from absolutely nothing, it’s inspiring. That energy carried me into creating three posters and some stickers.
The Outcome
The video didn’t get many views on Instagram or TikTok because the beginning is too long, there is no hook, no clarity. Sure, I could go back and tweak it.
But it already served its purpose — it gave me freedom in the process of creating it.
And that freedom fuels the drive to make something fresh and exciting again. Even when you're driving a commercial project car along a familiar route.
