This prompt is one I have used many times in the past and it has really helped me work through challenges, problem solving, concept development, and the limitations uncertainty may put on my work.
Read moreTag: creativity
Creativity – Feel Excited!
I talk quite a bit on my livestreams about projects that I am excited about. These are the projects that stand out in my mind before and after their development, the projects that I really spend a lot of real time with, and projects that I learn a lot from.
I know that feeling when I get an idea, that there is going to be something great on the other end of a project. That’s my favourite feeling. It makes me want to research, it makes me want to draw the vision I had, and I want that final piece to have my name on it. Create it! These projects should always be what you are creating in my mind. Life is too short to do art that doesn’t excite you.
I am not really “in the industry” right now. I have a full time job, so my studio work is more for fun. But I know from talking to other artists who are in the industry that you’re only going to get hired for the work that you put out there. So, put out something you are passionate about. If you don’t like doing logos, don’t put them out there. People will think that you do that all of the time and hire you for it, and you’ll be stuck doing logos forever. If you don’t like drawing butterflies, don’t put them on the socials, or you risk becoming the butterfly drawer.
Put out work that excites you. It really shows in the final piece if you enjoyed the project or not. I know I can generally tell by looking at my own pieces what I loved and what I did because it matched the brief. If you put out the work that you love doing, then the right people will be drawn in to your work. This creates even more opportunity to do these exciting projects!
I know that sometimes the freelance/client facing side does provide its limitations. It’s not always possible, but when I am in that situation, I try to put something in the initial sketches or final design that speaks more to me. Maybe adding a pattern to an infographic instead of flat colour. Trying something in a different way. Sometimes you can find that excitement in the dullest of project briefs.
What I am saying is, do work that you love and you will attract more opportunities to do it. This applies to all styles of art and work. And get creating! A list of cool potential projects doesn’t really count (I am talking to me here too lol).
What projects are you excited about right now?
Creativity – Everyone Started Somewhere
You’re never going to be immediately good at something you’ll do it right eventually.
– Billie Eilish
One thing that I hear from a lot of people is “oh, I could never do that”. There tends to be this idea that I just woke up able to do this one day and here we are. Like with anything, to get somewhere takes some work.
There was a quote at MAX last year that really stuck out to me:
“Without beginners there would be no experienced artists” Just try.
It’s completely true about anything. Writers don’t tend to pop out a masterpiece the first time they put pen to paper. Engineers don’t put together a bridge in their sleep. Doctors don’t start with brain surgery.
At one point DaVinci didn’t know how to read. There was a time where Jane Goodall knew nothing about chimpanzees. Even Elton John has a time in his life where he’d never touched a piano before. But they all got started.
I am not comparing myself to the great minds above, but I did work to get where I am. I continue to work everyday to keep going and improve. The growth is never done. If it is then it’s time to move on to something else.
If you can’t do something, and you don’t want to, fine. But if there is something that truly interests you, that you want to be part of your life, wishing it to be won’t get you very far. You have to get started. No matter what it is, you can do it. There’s online resources, videos, blogs, social media direction, there’s community groups and clubs that can be joined. If there’s an interest, there’s a resource.
You won’t start awesome. It’s a fact. Failure is part of the process. There’s something that all of us need to learn. But with persistence and practice, we can really get somewhere.
All you need to do is get started… and then keep at it. Me sitting here wishing that I drew a little something everyday doesn’t get me far, I have to actually draw a little something every single day.
So get going! What do you want to have as part of your life this year? How can you make that happen?
Creativity – Anthony Jones
I have talked a lot about my “experience” with Adobe MAX last fall. There were so many great talks and tools. I picked up so many great ideas for my creativity posts from all of the wonderful speakers. One of these speakers was Anthony Jones. I started writing today’s post based off of one thing he said, but ended up watching his whole talk again. I wanted to write everything that he said. Instead of doing that, I thought I would share his talk here. It is only 30 minutes but it is totally worth it.
Here are some of the things that spoke to me.
His perspective on creativity.
People are creative by nature (see? not just me). Kids are always singing and doing art. I liked that he pointed out that, how creative someone may be in their lives really depends on how that was nurtured and supported as an individual gets older. We are all creative. HOW you are creative is up to you. There isn’t a creative bone that people are born with.
Creative people work hard to get where they are.
I really liked his comparison of the art to a gym workout. You don’t start benching 400 lbs, you start smaller and work your way up to it. No one starts amazing, you need to work at it. All really great artists have worked very hard to get to where they are at, they have done a lot of work to get the way they are. Art is a skill that is worked for and earned.
You need to keep at it.
Some people might not feel motivated so they won’t draw that day, or they will stop drawing. You need to draw a lot to be a good artist.
If you don’t feel like drawing today, draw anyway! Set a timer for 30 minutes, don’t worry about quality, just the time. If you keep doing this it will build the habit. You might not be producing what you think is quality now, but you are working towards better quality art later. It’s not just going to click while you’re sitting around, you need to be working for it. Once you have a bit of a habit, you can accelerate forward. Don’t give up too soon.
Eventually, you will get to a point where some things feel like second nature. Do not even ask me what half of the shortcuts are that I use in Illustrator or Photoshop. My poor trainees have to listen to me saying things like “Use the ctrl shift B tool”. They are so patient. But if you get to that point, somethings will feel more natural or like second nature, facilitating what you are doing, and leaving room for more learning.
You also have to “pay your art bills”. Don’t let the skills get rusty, the longer you leave them, the harder they are to get back. This is a fact. Ask any art student who thought it would be a good idea to take the summer off. I’ll wait. Continuing to pay your art bills will eventually pay off in pride and confidence in your work, which can lead to even bigger things if you keep working at it.
Anthony also has a great cycle on how to not suck at art anymore. I really think you should watch this part, it can really be applied to anything. Some things do come to some people a little quicker, that doesn’t mean that you suck, or that they are more talented than you. Maybe something else that they have worked really hard at in the past helped them this time. They didn’t just get there by magic.
Keep learning.
Art is a skill. You need to feed it. No one is just naturally good at it. No one naturally knows how they would do their art either. You need to do the research. Put in the time.
For example, I did not know that I liked markers first. Or that a more paper cutout, hard outline style would be what worked best for my ideas right away. I went through A LOT of different things to get me there. I tried a lot of art supplies, I tried a lot of styles, I ran lots of experiments, wasted a lot of pages. At some point somethings really spoke to me more than others did. Some media felt more natural for me to use than others. I still think today that I am still reaching for my style, I don’t know if that really is something that anyone really decides on, it’s just a place that you get to. Listening to that and researching that is how we get where we need to go.
Don’t limit yourself either. Anthony’s example is a face. “Faces are hard. I can’t draw faces.” OK, I guess you’ll never do that then. OR, you can change the perspective. “Faces are hard to draw. I need to study.” I am doing this right now. I have a bit of a struggle with hands, so I could just stop drawing hands. OR, because I think that the hands and the eyes are the most expressive parts of my ideas, why let the art suffer? So, I am studying hands, figuring out ways to draw them and facilitate my process. I even got a visual aid that I hope will help me out. The point is, you can set up the barriers, or you can blow past the limits and learn all you can to make the best art you are able.
This is just a small piece of what Anthony talked about at MAX, so please take a minute to give it a watch.
To all you artists, creatives, and humans out there, keep paying your “art” bills, and own that talent. You have worked hard for it, you feed it, and you’ve earned it!
My Recommendation – Sketchbox
As all of you lovely readers know, I hit a bit of a wall at the start of the year. I have been doing everything that I can to get the creative juices flowing. One of the suggestions that other artists have for getting things going again is mini challenges. There are so many out there. There are Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest daily prompt accounts. There are “Draw this in your style” challenges, which I am going to look at next. There are challenges where you limit yourself somehow, either through time, number of colours, supplies you can use etc. One “tool” that I really enjoyed on this line last year was Sketchbox.
I fell down a crazy subscription box rabbit hole last fall. I quickly subscribed to a couple and immediately cut myself off haha. One of my favourites was Sketchbox. There are multiple ways to subscribe, one month, three months, six months, and there are basic and premium boxes available depending on your level of interest. There are also unboxing videos for each box which will show you all of the contents if you can’t wait for your box to arrive, but will also go through different ways to use the tools in your box. So, if you get something that you have never used before, be not afraid, there is guidance to show you how to start using everything.
When I signed up I bought three of the past boxes, and signed up for the six month subscription. Each box had a different medium collection in it. One was marker based (my favourite), chalk based, water colour based, mixed media. All kinds! I really like this because a lot of my art is mixed media, I rarely do something start to finish in just marker, or just digital, or just pencil crayon. I am always mixing something in and the more I have at my disposal, the more opportunities I have at my finger tips.
This is a great subscription box for anyone who is looking to learn a few new mediums, looking to expand their knowledge on mediums they are familiar with, and challenge their way of working. It has also been a great way to try tools I have been interested in, but didn’t want to commit to a full set of just yet, in case the tool wasn’t for me. Each box suggests that you create a piece using only the contents of the box. You can obviously do whatever you would like, but I tried that with my first few boxes and I came up with some really interesting projects.
Some of the great tools that I discovered with this subscription are:
- TCW Watercolour Sparx Powder
- Kuretake Zig Ink stick
- Edding Soft White Patel Pen
- Ecoline Watercolour Brush Pens
- Higgins India Ink Softliner Brush Pen
- Irodori Kobako Kit
- Molotow Liquid Chrome marker
I have all of my boxes now from my first round of the subscription. I did put my subscription on hold, but only because when I was in that creative rut earlier I didn’t create with the boxes, and they were starting to overwhelm me. Now that I have a clearer vision forward, I am going to pop each one open, one at a time, and start creating. Once I am caught up I will start my subscription again.
My next box is focused on ink, I am very excited for this one. Please keep an eye out for the finished piece on my Instagram and my Facebook pages.
Almost May?
Did the end of April sneak up on anyone else? Anyone? I know that I am surprised haha.
I don’t have a pile to report this morning. Work is getting busier and busier, so I am finding myself re-evaluating my time management and making sure that I am able to keep up with my plans. April turned out to be a bit of an engine warm rather than a take off, but hopefully that will set me off on the right foot for May.
My Behance project for this month is taking over all studio time, so the balance is a little off. But I already have an idea for May so I think that I am off to a good start. Once I get a good balance back I will be sure to post some of the sketching ideas I’ve had brewing too. Lots to come from the studio.
I am also brewing up a few more Creativity posts. These are a lot of fun to research and write, so I hope that you are enjoying them too. Anyone out there still think that they have no creativity at all? Here’s the time too look back on my posts to let you believe the compliment of creativity that is given to you. Here’s the first post, just in case.
On the yarn side of the world I have been working on a Mystery Knit-A-Long from one of my favourite designers, Ambah O’Brien. She did one back when I first started knitting and I have been eager to get started on another one ever since. So far I am loving the outcome, I do wonder if I should have gone with four colours instead of three, but something new is coming this week that I think might just change my mind. This will all make more sense when I make a post about this project later on.
I also have a KAL with friends coming up, finally getting to my sailing sweater! And I am keeping up with my original sock plans for the year, shockingly enough haha.
This one is short and sweet, but I do promise this silence is not being wasted. I am working away in the background right now, trying to get the best content for you lovely readers.
Here’s a few things that I enjoyed this month for you to explore while I write furiously in the background:
- A Court of Thorns and Roses series
- Rewatching Inkmaster on Prime – great sketching inspiration
- The jaw dropping design on this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race
- Music trades with friends – I am finding some great new studio vibes this way
Creativity
Creative Block
I am willing to bet that a lot of people who claim to not be creative are more likely experiencing some sort of creative block. “I don’t know what to paint, so I can’t paint”. Having creative block right off the top, I am sure, would give anyone the wrong idea and discourage any notions of creativity.
Creative block is deadly to a good groove. It makes me frustrated. I know that my art is good for me, that it will balance me, but I don’t know what I want to draw so I don’t, and I get frustrated, etc etc etc.
My creative block can come from a lot of things. The main one is mostly exhaustion. After a long work day, my brain is fried and I don’t want to work through the muddy ideas I have in my head. The ideas don’t come as smoothly when I am tired or stressed out. There’s a lot of other things that impact my creativity: my mood, my surroundings, life events, my environment, and how long I have to sit in the studio. I definitely work better if there’s a rough amount of time in the studio, but not a hard line to stop working. Getting productive sketches while I am constantly checking the clock on my lunch break is just not a thing haha.
Now, as there are million causes of creative block, there are a million more ways to work through it. Here are a few that I use regularly:
- Go for a walk. Sounds simple because it is. Going for a walk, for me, is an opportunity to really clear my head of anything that might be blocking my creativity. I’ll pop on a podcast or an audiobook and walk off any lingering stressors in my day. That really frees my mind up to be open to inspiration.
- Listen to music. I am at my most inspired when I listen to music. I get some of my best ideas from different songs, lyrics, and artists. When I listen to music I let my mind wander, when it does I usually come up with some great visuals or scenarios. Some of the time they don’t have anything to do with the song I am listening to, more what I think about when I listen to it.
- Go through your sketchbooks/journals/photos. I try my hardest to get ideas down on paper as soon as I have them. I might not need them right now, but I will later. Sometimes now isn’t the time for idea, it’s waiting for the perfect creative block moment to strike.
I also take a lot of photos of book pages. If I read an amazing line that sparks a bunch of ideas (Erin Morgenstern anyone?) I like to write the quote down, but usually don’t have a pen, so I take a picture. My phone is full of book page photos. Now, if I could remember to go back to them right away so I remember what book it was haha. - Switch up your routine. Maybe you’re trying to be creative when your creative bones aren’t ready. I know I tried to be doing my studio time over lunch for part of February, and I was getting so frustrated. None of my ideas were flowing as I had come to expect and none of my sketches came out to anything I liked. It turns out, like I mentioned above, that one of the problems was that I was limiting myself to that half an hour that had a hard stop on either side. I didn’t let myself get absorbed into any ideas because I knew I had to get back to work, to that meeting, to answer this email, to contact that person. It was just no good. I put studio time back to after work and things started running a little smoother.
- Scroll through things that inspire you. Pinterest search something that interests you. Go through Behance. Visit the sites or read the books of those that really inspire you. Does something stand out? Why? Dig into that a bit.
Be careful here though. You don’t want to steal any ideas or risk plagiarism. I have a post coming up on this as well. Just use these things to get the juices flowing and then close them all to workout your own ideas.
These are just some really simple things that I have found work for me when I am trying to be creative but I am just not feeling it as much as I would like. Don’t give up, power through, take a break, feed the interest, and you’ll get there. I have a lot more in-depth ideas to share here too, but I thought I would start somewhere simple, and not write a novel for us all on this Wednesday morning.
What do you do when you hit a creative block?
Creativity
“Planning for a project and doing the actual work are two separate efforts.” – Lauren Hom
To start, I am completely aware of the potential contrast that this might have to my last Creativity post. I cover that here too, don’t worry.
This quote hit me right in the face. It is so true.
I read an article a few years back saying something along the lines of “I spend more time researching my hobbies than I do actually doing my hobbies.” I find that this is completely true for me. In between working on projects I am looking up knitting patterns, new markers and art supplies, researching new ways to improve my process, looking up why my stupid fine liners dry around the side of the felt tips so I have to hold them perpendicular to the paper to get any ink out (seriously, save me… anyone? I can’t figure it out… all brands, all but the tips dry out… siiiiiiiigh).
I also saw a quote this week that said: “Knitting and buying yarn are two different hobbies.” Can confirm. The same is true for art supplies, books and reading, and so many more I am sure.
Anyway, I think that this is a key part to the execution of any project, but recognizing the difference between planning and execution will save your sanity, I promise.
Anyone how knows me has seen me, at least once, dive right off the deep end with a project. I just learned to knit, I think I’ll try testing knitting. Sure, why not? I like the design of cards. Maybe I’ll try a whole tarot deck! If there’s a “hardest way to learn something” something, you know I tried that first thing haha. Sometimes it works, but usually it puts me in an area of frustration, “WHY WON’T THIS WORK?”. First, you’re starting with the most difficult thing you can do in this and you don’t know how to do it. Everyone has to start at the beginning for a reason. There is zero shame in this. This is for me just as much as it is for you 😀
In my experience, any large efforts cannot have a successful final product without some sort of planning. Sometimes they go hand and hand and are a lot of fun, sometimes I like one part more than the other. But the planning is really important, it helps you to see where your problem areas might be and brace you for some road bumps, or advantages you’ll run into because of your planning process. Here’s what I mean.
Read moreCreativity: “Don’t go in with too much of a plan”
Hi everyone. My name is Erin and I am a perfectionist (Hi Eriiiiiin). Initially this might sound like an advantage for an artist. It pushes me to do good work and to push to get a great final result sometimes. But knowing when to push and pull, and where to let things take their own direction is something I am learning to be key.
I do find too, that when I go in with a specific idea with a lot of detail rolling in my head, I will get discouraged and stop when things aren’t going right. Sometimes it is a hard stop. So, trying to get past that is a challenge too.
When I heard the title quote from Taika Waititi at MAX, in response to how he stays creative, it sang out to me because it was something that I was coming to realize in my own art. Going in with a general idea has allowed me to develop my favourite pieces, especially when I let the piece do its thing.
“React to the art as it is happening.”
Oliver Jeffers
I have told people this in the past, and I am frequently met with frustration. “Oh, that just showed up in your sketchbook, eh?” To a degree… yes! When it comes to a lot of my sketches, I will go in with a certain idea, but the lines start to look like something else, or the layout looks different on paper from what I was picturing in my head. I could erase everything and start over (see my post on erasing, don’t do it!), or I could explore what I see shaping up on the surface. In the sketch up top, that’s exactly what happened. I set out to draw a lady, lying on her bed or on the floor, resting, surrounded by hobbies, books, snacks, and just relaxing. When I started to draw out her hair, some of the lines really looked like the shape of fish. The more I looked at it, the less I could ignore it, so I tried it. The end product gave me more of a relaxed feel than I was getting from my original idea, and I am pretty happy with the result.
“Be in the moment. Respond to it. Let the ‘being’ flow to whatever result.”
Naomie Harris
Working in this way, I am finding, really takes the pressure off. I am not going in trying to get the perfect final result, I am going in with an idea, seeing what the lines, tools, and feeling have for me at the end. This also opens the door for experimentation and trying something new. All of that learning will help you to see what you’re capable of during the next experiment. Going in with too much of a plan has the potential to limit what you and your art are capable of, or willing to try, with any particular piece.
This does not apply to just art either. This is the Creativity Series, we all have it remember? I think that this mentality could really help with a lot of new year’s resolutions people have. For example, instead of saying “I will run 10K everyday, and lose 32.45lbs before the end of the year”. Maybe try something like, “I’d like to incorporate a workout into my day, everyday, with the goal of losing some weight.” This way you are not roping yourself into a plan that, if you’re like me and have very little love for running, will grow tired, FAST. By going in with a less detailed plan, you have taken some of the pressure off, allowing yourself to try some different workouts that you might like better, such as dance or swimming. This could make the process a lot more enjoyable and less of a chore. That’s just one example, you can really apply this to so many things.
Now, obviously this one doesn’t work everywhere. I’d prefer that my surgeon have a pretty solid plan A-Z when it comes to surgery, or the architect of my building really plan out the structure so we don’t fall over. Things like that. But in the parts of the world where there is a little wiggle room, give it to yourself. You’ll be surprised at how much lighter you feel, and what you can accomplish when you trust yourself.
I’m going to stop myself here, I could go on and on about this all day. If I give you too many examples to use, or “rules” to follow, I would be defeating the entire purpose of this post. So go try it! It’s a new year, the possibilities are endless.
Creativity: Why do we need it?
If you think about creativity, most people think about the arts. But as we have been discussing, that’s not really the only place we can find it, right?
Take a minute now to think about where we would be without creativity. Just think about it. On the surface, sure, we’d have no movies, no music, no beautiful wall murals, that’s fine. But when we dig deeper, that also means no vaccines, no electric cars, no broken athletic records, no new food dishes, none of it. We wouldn’t even be close to any of those thing if we hadn’t used some sort of creativity.
If there was no creativity, no use of it, no application of it, no growth of it, we would be back with the cave people if we were lucky. The whole human race has, at the very basic level, been built off of experiencing, learning, and applying what you learned. Sometimes on repeat. Sometimes with little success. Sometimes learning the wrong lesson.
This human growth, to get from the caves to the smart watch, requires an element of problem solving, which almost never happens without some sort of creativity. There’s a road block, now how do we solve it? What have I learned so far and can it be applied? Has been applied before? What were the results? It hasn’t? Why/why not, let’s try it! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t (learn from it), and sometimes it comes to a solution for an entirely different problem we weren’t even looking at.
Yes, the invention of electricity needed math and engineering skills, but the application of those particular skills to this result was new. Creative!
Designing of an operating system to go from a laptop to a phone to a watch requires coding, engineers, and designers. The combination of these skill sets to get to these results, especially if you get there first… Creative!
Using biomimicry to apply a shark-like skin to a bathing suit to make the swimmer go faster needs the study of biology and some interest in fashion. But applying them in this way to get some swim records broken… Creative!
Anything that I have read so far about the COVID vaccine indicates that this is a relatively new way of making a vaccine. CREATIVE!
Shepard Fairey said at MAX that “there is always something that needs to be addressed.” Art is one way to do that, but we need to be creative in our presentation, we need to get the message across. Maybe there’s a better way. “Every movement here to change the world takes creativity” (Common). He’s not just talking about making art for change, Common is talking about how it will take creativity to get to that change. Creative ways of thinking, creative ways of building and breaking down process, and creative ways of doing everything better. Creativity.
“Creativity is a way to express our beliefs and connect with others” (Shantanu Narayen). It is a way to share, learn, and experience something totally new. When we learn from each other, there is opportunity for new ideas to grow from those experiences, which can lead to new areas of understanding or study. Creativity.
Everyone needs even the smallest level of creativity to even create their own identity. For the most part, none of us want to be exactly like someone else. We will all take bits and pieces of interests, or non-interests, and build who we are in our own way. Creativity. I don’t think that Thirty-One thought that I would wear their bag with my Guess jeans and my local brewery sweater. I don’t think that the dyer of my yarn pictured it being used with the pattern I am knitting, because the pattern was published after I brought the yarn home. I don’t know that Hyundai pictured my car with a Time Turner hanging from the mirror, but who knows. A small level of creativity went into each of those decisions that I made, coming up with a new combination that might not have been done before, at least not by me.
We are creative everyday, in the smallest of ways and we need it to grow further individually, as a society, and as the human race. We aren’t going to fix problems without creative thinking (see my comment about the COVID vaccine). We aren’t going to move forward in education without creative thinking. We aren’t going to grow without creative thinking. We need creativity to continue.
Before you claim that you are not creative, take a look at what you have done today, I am sure you’ve had at least one original thought or idea. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Creativity is something we can claim, and something we should all claim, because without it we would be in a very sad, cold place indeed.
Hues & Tones 