Idea generation, your brain on cartoons, incongruency & divergent thinking, and how to encourage your creativity are all on the mind of cartoonist, writer and artist Paul Noth.

Paul is a cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine, where his work has appeared regularly since 2004. He created the Emmy-nominated animated series "Pale Force" for Late Night with Conan O’Brien. He has been an animation consultant for Saturday Night Live and developed shows for Cartoon Network Adult Swim and Nickelodeon. Paul is the author of the middle grade novels “How to Sell Your Family to the Aliens,” “How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth,” and “How to Win the Science Fair When You’re Dead,” all published by Bloomsbury.

Takeaways

1. Embrace the limitations of your art form.
2. Conscious effort impedes the incubation process.
3. The preparatory phase of creative work requires hard work and skill, but it also requires letting go.
4. The idea comes despite the effort not because of it.

Paul Noth on X

Paul Noth on Instagram

Paul Noth on Facebook

Paul Noth on LinkedIn

Paul’s middle grade books

Paul Noth on IMBD

'Midwest nice' cartoonist for The New Yorker is ready for Chicago and the DNC

The New Yorker 

This is Your Brain on Cartoons article by Sarah Larson

Roz Chast

Iain McGilchrist

Photo credits, Camila Guarda, Chicago Sun Times