A woodworking friend directed me to a page where another woodworker displayed the designs he had made. I was immediately intriqued and began to duplicate many of his creations. I then moved onto searches of geometric shapes shown on simple Google searches. I have an 18 3/4"X8 3/4" piece of 3/4" melamine that I use to scale those designs up to a workable drawing. To these I apply the species of choice to the various parts and using forced perspective attempt to get a 3D result. There are almost 50 of these now in my shop. I keep using the same piece of melamine so the design only lasts a day. Then it is erased and a new one takes its place.
Some of my most creative moments have been when I've had to cover up an error in my woodworking.