Here’s my cartoon recap from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week. System1 invited me to sketch a daily cartoon based on what I observed, walking around with my sketchpad for the week.
This one is about the transition back to regular work at the end. Even if you haven’t been to this festival, hopefully you can relate to the return experience after any sort of creative retreat.
Creativity is ultimately not about the inspiration or ideas — it’s about how you bring them to life. Championing truly creative work usually involves running a gauntlet. It’s very easy to settle for safer versions of creative execution. But too many compromises can water down the result to nothing.
One of my earliest cartoons reimagined Isaac Newton under the apple tree and what happens after the apple drops and inspiration strikes. Each frame has chomps taken out of the apple until what is left is applesauce. We all have to fight against Newton’s applesauce.
Several of my conversations last week touched on this universal challenge in creative work.
Here’s the rest of my Cannes Lions cartoon mini-series. I hope you enjoy them!
