How Ideas Are Born

In How Ideas Are Born, readers will find a treasure chest of images by 26 diverse illustrators from 12 different countries that the author has gathered, selected and curated for the book. The types of images and styles vary, ranging from the childlike and naïve to the poignant, suggestive and truly masterly. In addition to the 270 images, the book contains 110 drawings and pages from notebooks and sketchbooks that take the reader deeper into the nature of each artist's work. The visual elements are complemented by revealing interviews with each artist in which they discuss what compelled them to become illustrators, their inspirations, and the research, methods, personal philosophies and work processes that allow them to transform a creative impulse or an emotion into an idea, and an idea into a work of art. We learn about what drives and inspires them as well as the origins of their ideas and creativity, from an innocent curiosity about shapes and colors to the desire to share something fascinating and wonderful with others in a unique and original way.

Miguel Ángel Pérez Arteaga is a graphic design and communication expert and co-founder of the design studio Batidora de Ideas. Author and illustrator of twelve children's books published in Spain, Mexico and Brazil, he is also the author of the book Creatividad: curiosidad, motivación y juego (Creativity: curiosity, motivation and play) in the series "[Re]thinking education" published by Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza. He participated in the exhibitions "Ready to Read: Book design from Spain, a selection of the best books published in Spain" (New York, Washington, Mexico, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Madrid and Lisbon) and "Ilustrísimos: An overview of children and young adults' illustration in Spain" at the Bologna Book Fair. A finalist in the Daniel Gil Awards (Spain) and the Biennial of Illustration of Amarante (Portugal), he has had numerous individual and collective painting, photography and illustration exhibitions. Miguel Angel Perez Arteaga is a lecturer in the Marketing Department of the University of Zaragoza (Spain).