April 15, 2010
Tell a Story
A story has an arc—a beginning, a middle, and an end. A good story builds tension and anticipation, and has a climax followed by a resolution. An engaging story has a wealth of interesting detail, but themes that are universal. You can tell a story in a 30-second TV commercial, a building, or a symphony. Whatever you are creating, think about how your audience will experience it as it unfolds.
April 1, 2010
Why Be Creative?
Overcome obstacles by coming up with a new way around.
Resolve conflict with creative thinking. When my daughter was 16, I found out that she was not staying with her dad on the weekends as I believed, but with her boyfriend. I could have insisted she be home every night by curfew, and called her if she wasn't home, and tracked her down if she didn't answer her phone. I imagined that could lead to getting the police involved if she couldn't be found. That is a path I did not want to start down. My daughter was strong-willed and would not give in to a parental power play. So I asked her if she would take the dog with her on weekends. She agreed. What I really wanted was for my daughter to be a responsible young adult, and by taking the dog she accepted responsibility. (I also made an appointment for her at the gyno.) She has proven to make wise decisions for herself ever since.
Creativity gives you a competitive advantage no matter where you work.
Personal growth is available to the creative.
Thinking creatively brightens your outlook, because you know that there are no insurmountable problems. There are only opportunities that haven’t yet been discovered. My boyfriend Andy and I were driving to the Indianapolis airport one cold morning in January for a trip to Florida. It had been warm the day before and I-74 was a sheet of slick ice. Going over 35 mph meant losing control of the car. With a little luck and skillful driving, we made it to the airport. However, the drive took us 90 minutes longer than we had planned. I was getting bummed out that we might have missed our flight and end up stuck in Indianapolis. Andy said, if we have to stay here we will check in to the Canterbury, visit the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and have dinner at the hotel’s French restaurant. At that point, I almost hoped we would miss our flight. Well, we made it to Florida after a delay of many hours. Andy’s creative thinking made a potential disappointment into a desirable opportunity.
Being creative makes life interesting, because you are open to new ideas wherever you look.
As you can see, I do not have anecdotes for all of these because I don't want it to be all about me. Please share how creativity has improved your life in the comments.
Resolve conflict with creative thinking. When my daughter was 16, I found out that she was not staying with her dad on the weekends as I believed, but with her boyfriend. I could have insisted she be home every night by curfew, and called her if she wasn't home, and tracked her down if she didn't answer her phone. I imagined that could lead to getting the police involved if she couldn't be found. That is a path I did not want to start down. My daughter was strong-willed and would not give in to a parental power play. So I asked her if she would take the dog with her on weekends. She agreed. What I really wanted was for my daughter to be a responsible young adult, and by taking the dog she accepted responsibility. (I also made an appointment for her at the gyno.) She has proven to make wise decisions for herself ever since.
Creativity gives you a competitive advantage no matter where you work.
Personal growth is available to the creative.
Thinking creatively brightens your outlook, because you know that there are no insurmountable problems. There are only opportunities that haven’t yet been discovered. My boyfriend Andy and I were driving to the Indianapolis airport one cold morning in January for a trip to Florida. It had been warm the day before and I-74 was a sheet of slick ice. Going over 35 mph meant losing control of the car. With a little luck and skillful driving, we made it to the airport. However, the drive took us 90 minutes longer than we had planned. I was getting bummed out that we might have missed our flight and end up stuck in Indianapolis. Andy said, if we have to stay here we will check in to the Canterbury, visit the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and have dinner at the hotel’s French restaurant. At that point, I almost hoped we would miss our flight. Well, we made it to Florida after a delay of many hours. Andy’s creative thinking made a potential disappointment into a desirable opportunity.
Being creative makes life interesting, because you are open to new ideas wherever you look.
As you can see, I do not have anecdotes for all of these because I don't want it to be all about me. Please share how creativity has improved your life in the comments.
Limitations and Parameters
What is more intimidating than a blank page? The best spark for creativity is a limitation. Do not strain against parameters, use them to transcend the obvious. Deadlines and budgets are motivators. Materials and locations offer you their strengths (and weaknesses). How many of the things you love were created with unlimited time and money? Having no restraints can be paralyzing, or lead to worthless excess. Embrace your limitations and parameters.
March 4, 2010
Emphasis
Establishing a hierarchy of importance is essential in a creative work. Unless you are Jackson Pollack, you will want some elements to stand out from the rest. The number one newbie mistake is trying to give everything equal emphasis. The result is that everything becomes lost.
What if a movie had no climax? A news article had no headline? A song had no refrain? Like any other rule, there are exceptions. When you want to fade into the background, like elevator music or wallpaper. Or when you join the cacophony, like a wall of posters or graffitti. Remember, when everything demands attention, very likely it will all be tuned out.
How to create emphasis? Make it bigger is the most obvious way, but there are others. Adding contrast is the most effective. Use color—bright colors stand out from neutrals. Add space around something to draw attention to it. Shine a light on it. Once you have your style of emphasis, use it in different degrees to create a hierarchy.
Only you know where you want the audience to direct their attention, so put the emphasis there.
What if a movie had no climax? A news article had no headline? A song had no refrain? Like any other rule, there are exceptions. When you want to fade into the background, like elevator music or wallpaper. Or when you join the cacophony, like a wall of posters or graffitti. Remember, when everything demands attention, very likely it will all be tuned out.
How to create emphasis? Make it bigger is the most obvious way, but there are others. Adding contrast is the most effective. Use color—bright colors stand out from neutrals. Add space around something to draw attention to it. Shine a light on it. Once you have your style of emphasis, use it in different degrees to create a hierarchy.
Only you know where you want the audience to direct their attention, so put the emphasis there.
March 2, 2010
Why Be Creative?
From Carloyn Hax, March 2, 2010
Dear Carolyn:
I recently broke up with my live-in boyfriend of three years. I have been through break-ups before but this has really hit me hard. I still live in the same condo (I own it) and I find it harder and harder to stay there. I cannot sell it in this market, so I am really struggling to get it together.
Va.
I'm sorry. If it helps, people have been finding ways to live with their ghosts since well before there was such a thing as a real estate market.
Since one of your problems is grief, and another is the physical setting, combine the two to find, if not a complete solution, then at least some relief. Work through your grief by updating your apartment -- paint, rearrange furniture, re-route foot traffic. Make the familiar unfamiliar. Start hosting a new set of memories.
Making big changes on a small budget forces creative thinking, and that forces your brain to work on something other than re-living your past three years. If you have some good old friends or even some encouraging new ones, find friendly ways to include them.
Time is going to do the most work to help you through this grief, but a project can make that time go faster and in a happier direction.
February 18, 2010
Balance
Balance can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. Sometimes a piece is intentionally off balance.
Symmetrical balance means that both sides of an axis are the same, like a reflection. It feels solid, unmoving, formal, classic, and complete. The axis can be vertical, as in a butterfly. It can be horizontal, like the reflection of a landscape on water. It can be angled. There can be more than one axis. In art, the two sides need not be exactly the same. A melody played by an oboe can be balanced by the same melody played by tenor sax. The goal is to achieve a sense of equality.
Asymmetrical balance means that the sides are different, but have the same overall weight. Weight is more of a feeling than a measurement. One large object can be balanced by a handful of small objects. A small black chair can be balanced by a large pale pink couch.
The dividing axis does not need to be in the center. Off center is more interesting, modern, and suggests movement. Be aware of where your axis is, and balance accordingly.
No balance at all is unsettling to most people. It will leave them uncomfortable and feeling that something is missing. This is sometimes the goal, and you can use this effect to your advantage.
When your work has an incompleteness or pulls you in one direction more than another, it probably lacks balance. Add some weight to the lighter side.
Symmetrical balance means that both sides of an axis are the same, like a reflection. It feels solid, unmoving, formal, classic, and complete. The axis can be vertical, as in a butterfly. It can be horizontal, like the reflection of a landscape on water. It can be angled. There can be more than one axis. In art, the two sides need not be exactly the same. A melody played by an oboe can be balanced by the same melody played by tenor sax. The goal is to achieve a sense of equality.
Asymmetrical balance means that the sides are different, but have the same overall weight. Weight is more of a feeling than a measurement. One large object can be balanced by a handful of small objects. A small black chair can be balanced by a large pale pink couch.
The dividing axis does not need to be in the center. Off center is more interesting, modern, and suggests movement. Be aware of where your axis is, and balance accordingly.
No balance at all is unsettling to most people. It will leave them uncomfortable and feeling that something is missing. This is sometimes the goal, and you can use this effect to your advantage.
When your work has an incompleteness or pulls you in one direction more than another, it probably lacks balance. Add some weight to the lighter side.
February 4, 2010
Step 5: Refine
After the execution phase of the creative process, you need feedback. Even if you have been asking for and incorporating feedback all along, the final critique is a milestone. You will have one or several comprehensive models, and perhaps variations on each of those. Now you present them to the client or patron. If this is a personal project, you step back and look at your work with detachment. Every comment or suggestion should be taken seriously, even though your tendency is to defend your work.
So many outcomes are possible at this point. You might get approval to go ahead, proceed with changes, or get sent "back to the drawing board." The most demoralizing is to have your idea picked apart and watered down so much that it no longer resembles the vision you had in the beginning. This is very common when dealing with a committee. Everyone has different taste, some people just don't get it, and everyone wants to weigh in with a suggestion in order to feel they have contributed. You can avoid this fate by insisting on having one person with the executive authority to approve your project before you agree to take it on.
Nevertheless, you now have some concerns to address. Although frustrating, this is a chance to take your work to a higher level. If you can determine the underlying goal behind a specific suggestion, you as the artist will likely have a better way to achieve it.
Next, you throw yourself into the finished piece. You incorporate the best of the ideas, find better ways to accomplish goals, and disregard suggestions that will weaken the piece (getting approval if necessary). All of your work and play comes to fruition in the unveiling to the client, patron, or the public.
So many outcomes are possible at this point. You might get approval to go ahead, proceed with changes, or get sent "back to the drawing board." The most demoralizing is to have your idea picked apart and watered down so much that it no longer resembles the vision you had in the beginning. This is very common when dealing with a committee. Everyone has different taste, some people just don't get it, and everyone wants to weigh in with a suggestion in order to feel they have contributed. You can avoid this fate by insisting on having one person with the executive authority to approve your project before you agree to take it on.
Nevertheless, you now have some concerns to address. Although frustrating, this is a chance to take your work to a higher level. If you can determine the underlying goal behind a specific suggestion, you as the artist will likely have a better way to achieve it.
Next, you throw yourself into the finished piece. You incorporate the best of the ideas, find better ways to accomplish goals, and disregard suggestions that will weaken the piece (getting approval if necessary). All of your work and play comes to fruition in the unveiling to the client, patron, or the public.
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