Thursday, October 07, 2021
Expanding and Building Your Creativity
SoundGirls.org: For many of us in the creative industry, our passion and drive for creating new art can come and go. It is therefore important to give yourself the space and time to recharge and reset before returning to your practice. If you are stuck and looking for new ideas, however, I have created a list of a few things that can help break you out of a creative block and perhaps challenge you to think and work differently.
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As an artist, this struggle to be creative, and the feeling of compulsion to be creative is a struggle. It is sometimes difficult to find the balance between inspiration and taking from someone’s work. I also think it is difficult to understand what it means to be an artist or to even be creative. There is a need to be original, but that requires taking source material from your environment. A very kind art teacher once described this process to be as, “stealing like an artist” and as someone who is attempting to create new worlds from old ones, this has been a wonderful lesson to take with me. I like that this article describes this as sampling your surroundings, even if it is in the specific context of sound design. However, the drive and artistry that goes into creating a sound plan is so overlooked. We often don’t even consider it when we think about the creative process of the entertainment industry as an audience member, but it is as invaluable as an other element of entertainment.
This article was heavily based in sound and music. However, the concept and message of the article can be applied in many situations. Whenever I am feeling like I lack creative inspiration, I do two things. First, I check in with myself. Am in touch with my own being? Or am I mentally disconnected from everything around ME. I typically will spend about 24 hours resetting, practicing yoga and meditation, and then carrying this into the following week. It is easy to confuse burnout with a lack of creativity. The second thing I do, is expose myself to new visual references. I will typically go to a museum or watch a film I’ve wanted to see. New media and cultural references tend to lead to something I find exciting, even if it is unrelated to my current project. That excitement typically spirals into other things. Most importantly, as a creative it is important to be aware of what you need!
It is hard to be creative. I know that some people may not agree with me on that but personally, sometimes I find myself struggling to enjoy the process of creating art. On the other hand, there are times when I am doing nothing but being creative. The point of making art is to express something. Usually, that is very draining and with it usually follows an art block. This article followed sound but I think that it can be applied to anywhere you are feeling a block in your creativity. I love using word generators to get my ideas going. As a digital artist, something like that can spark an idea for a piece or just help you warm up. Sampling from surroundings is also a huge idea that covers a lot of the art world. Use your life to create your art. I have drawn mountains and plants from my home town and even my friends. Sometimes you just need a little push to get your creativity going again.
Ooooh, bookmarking this website immediately. Creativity is a difficult subject for me, because sometimes I feel like I am filled with boundless creativity and inspiration, and other times I'm simply so burned out that I cannot do anything remotely creative, and trying feels like removing nails from my skull. It's difficult to recover from that state, and honestly, the best thing to do for me is just to take a day away from that creative work and do something else. I like to feed the logical parts of my brain during those times (or play video games, never said it had to be productive ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).
In regards to what I do to get my inspiration rolling though, I'm a very musical person, so I often get inspired by tiny musical phrases or beats. The first tip from the article is actually my favorite. I love using samples and pre-made chords to get inspiration for a project. Yes, I am one of those people that gets my inspiration for visual arts projects from music and audio. One of the biggest things to realize about inspiration and creativity is that there are no guidelines or best practices. Whatever works, works.
A little positive read for a change, this article really resonated with me. I struggle a lot when it comes to being creative, especially when that creativity is tied with school and grades. I found it surprising that many of the tips in this article are things that I already do in real life on the daily. I always always take note of my surroundings and that pictures of mundane things that strike me in the moment. My camera roll is littered with pictures of clouds, pipes, and random people because it reminded me of a potential aspect of a world I can build around them. Although this article is just for audio and music, I find that a lot of the tips can be used in the visual world as well. It is important to “hear” yourself out by drawing a quick sketch of things in your mind or word generate but with random pictures on social media. I think the upkeep of your creative muscles is an important conversation to have because most of the time it is something that is considered a basic skill that should be “on” all the time.
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