Lessons

Lesson Info

The Creative Process

the creative process happens in five phases okay a creative act is not necessarily something that has never been done it's something you have never done okay the way it happens in these faces his first identifying your problem but identifying what you want to create okay I'm in the middle of a creative process right now I have an image that I want to create in my head about postpartum depression it's a self portrait okay I have a vision in my head I've wrote it down this is my problem okay you all have done this you have ideas about things you want to create right ok identification the next step is the preparation face you may ask yourself if you have the technical technical ability to create this thing that's in your mind okay you evaluate possible solutions this is the thinking stage I think about it write it down kind of then there's the incubation stage I'm in this stage right now okay this stage is where you shelve it I've had this idea in my moleskin book at home for probably abo...

ut a year now ok and it's shelved I'm not going to touch it for a while until I have that breakthrough moment that I know I need to do to create it okay so every project gets shelved it could be shelved for a minute it could be shelved for a year that it's just depend on the project and your own your own avenue of different projects have different shelf life's some of them will be on their mind happened immediately this one happened immediate well know this was probably about a two week process but you say I'm saying every project has its own little shelf life so give it the time to incubate a little bit okay and compete in your mind and you won't be thinking about it all the time about small you'll see something and something oh I could apply that to that thing I wanted to dio write that down it's almost like the research stage and it may get shelved and brought back and shelved and brought back multiple times before you finally completed okay then you will have this little breakthrough moment where you know what needs to be done to create the work okay the solution becomes clear and it's time to get to it this stage is often the result of the incubation stage your mind at work and often this is the point that feels like that zap of inspiration you know that I had to create this we're going to make it you know what I mean you guys have had that I know we're kind of nodding slowly um that's more like yeah okay I got to do this then the resolution okay you are ready to try your solution and see what happens that is how the creative process evolves and when you can kind of see it from this identification labeling it and giving it a life it helps you understand where you are in a creative process and be forgiving of yourself and shut george the heck up okay because sometimes the incubation page of phase in particular you'll be going I should really get to that project I can't believe I'm not doing it it's just sitting there on my hard drive what am I doing you know you start to be write yourself a little bit it's seeing commission scots it got marinate in its own little juices for a bit okay exercise is to free your mind free in your mind is what will help you really we'll help really empower your creativity okay daydream go to a coffee shop have a cup of coffee and sit there endangering look at people walking by for your mind okay run was a scene say you have ah I don't know a pink fame wouldn't do everything in pink just pick a theme and go you'll get sick of it trust me but just go with it and see where it takes you and ask yourself how many different ways you could do something in pink sometimes living limiting yourself to such a tight parameter helps you be creative okay mind mapping of here if you guys have ever done my mapping its like a brainstorming session where you put a word down with a circle and then make a tree of other words that all relate to it and then words that relates that and then to that it'll allow your mind to go all over the place and kind of explore theme in a subject and will lead to new ideas okay ah word brainstorming same concept how many different words can you think of for the word hat cap suppose you ever beret derby derby camp yeah ok you see my point your minds are going who they're starting to think okay that's all these exercises are meant to do is to get you thinking outside the box another great exercise we have we don't have a cardboard box around here anywhere I don't think so that's okay um step in the box I'm in a box don't you love my box it's so pretty think about many things we can do with this box it's so I notice you guys are gonna think I'm so silly but it really does work I should make you all do this but then my producer kathy would freak out when we have a plan that way anyway I was so I wanted that but imagine just all of a sudden going I am going to step out of the box it's a very freeing feeling and I know that seems really silly and strange but when you just kind of and it works if you if you do with the cardboard boxes even better but just put it you know the cardboard box the kids train came in or whatever and stand it and just go this is my box it's limiting me it's making me do things that I've always done and it's boring and blonde I need to get out of it so step out of it step out of the box it is it's weird well psychological thing that kind of just goes whom I don't have to be in the box psychology is strange and creativity and a lot to do with psychology so I thought you guys were all going practice that I know that we're going to break your going to like okay line language you draw a line okay I want to get your pieces of paper again please it's cover you really gets covered in plano turn the paper over you'll be fine just try it I want you to draw a line on ly one line that's happy strong line I want you to draw anger I want you to draw confusion I want you to draw frustration I want you to draw love I want your draw tears sadness interesting isn't it was your pen pressing down harder and certain emotions yeah interesting huh well your lines all over the place for confusion it's interesting how one line can express an emotion and it's interesting how this little exercise freed your mind to be thinking differently didn't it that's the whole point of being creative isjust to think differently because once you think differently and expose yourself to fresh and new situations that allows your mind to open up to new possibility and new possibility is where art comes from right unique art comes from and when you do this from your heart all of a sudden your creativity and your energy is truly you inauthentic and no one else is and nobody can take it together it's you okay so these are all little exercises you know take a new road home driving I mean it's a great way to just kind of clear mind it'll bit okay walk or bike instead of dr it's a big one it's funny how you walked how many of you actually walked down your residential street yeah not me in a long time okay I get in my suv and I drive downhill and I don't walk down my street but when ideo I see so many new things even in the different seasons so slowing down sometimes is very beneficial write a letter without using the words I me mine or my innit think about that how would you write a letter to someone without using the words I mean mine or my make a story with just six words challenging isn't it well let's see for sale baby carriage never used well there's a story that seven words or six anyway you get my point okay think about making things from limited parameters that'll help you a lot ok designing your letter of the alphabet the faux sound photography what letter is faux drawing make a new letter come on you can do it make a new letter it's our new letter the twenty seventh letter of the alphabet the sound is so sensitive ph or f we're gonna do so not fun was kind of fun isn't it okay invent a new sandwich seriously this is what kids do this is the kind of thing kids tio okay so I encourage you to think like that creativity is not a magical ingredient okay it's not some magical ingredient personality granted to the chosen few creativity is an attitude you hold towards the choices you make in life as well as in your art there was always a better way of doing things and creative people are out there looking for it that's all creativity is really it's allowing yourself to make mistakes art is knowing which ones to keep so true I have a boat loads of stuff on my hard drive that will never see the light of day I'm going to show you something on saturday actually well embarrassed by but I am going to show you my flops okay it's okay tohave flops you need to give yourself permission those five piece of creativity okay perseverance passion permission patients those air so important in the creative process show up for your job every day okay just keep doing the work and if that creative elusive thing that enlightens us with a spark of inspiration or a new idea comes along than awesome but if you keep showing up to do your job and have the stubbornness to do that then bravo to you questions any questions in the studio audience jumps I think when you first this question about created are we creative I was kind of like oh I guess I don't know maybe and now I feel like I'm really you can be yeah everybody's creative everybody has it in them my dad I was on the phone with him the other day talking about my my program and I said I was really nervous to teach this part of it because it's hard to teach create I mean how do you teach them to be creative um he's I'm not creative that was his word thank daddy suru the scientists like think of all the solutions you've come up with for your business to make your family eat you know all those air creative solutions to problems s o creativity exists you know on every level from art to science to whatever it's really a problem solving our problems don't look like problems there disguised as art for his ideas but that's all they are is that his ideas waiting to happen so any other questions or concerns or worries or let's talk about it now we have some time here so if you guys have questions now is the timeto outside comment we're doing this reminded me of when I was always like fifteen or sixteen I used to make food out of starburst like I'd make little hamburgers and french fries and cause mixing them up they tasted better it's actually sat made a little hamburger out of clay and I was like really sad that they weren't starburst e you're like really starburst right now was like progressing to that earlier stage and remembering how I used to be really creative and I had finally shut myself down yeah and it's kind of nice to be like hey that's still there it is it's all in us I mean think about the decisions you make on a daily basis they all happened from lessons you learned as a child right I mean some of our decisions are not so good and some of them are really great because our you know our parents taught us strong powerful things and that we use on a daily basis so some of those things are like you know we don't really good at it was maybe some of us never learned discipline or some of us never learned to take responsibility for our actions those kids but everything we learn in life the majority well I should say everything but the majority of what we learnt in life on how to cope with life happens when we're young star and so when you take yourself back to that joy of being a child and creating for the sake of creating it feels like being a kid again and that was remember how happy that wass not having any responsibility you don't have to worry about you know I mean obviously not every kid has that kind of life but you know just all you had to do was go to school and your lunch and make your friends and play in the school yard you know that was a very joyful time and your parents loved you unconditionally and again not everybody had those happy hunky dorey childhoods but they learned from them you know and those lessons we take through our lives with us and for some reason almost everybody on this planet learns to fear the judgment of others in their art and that is so sad and tragic and something that we all need to overcome if we're goingto be creative if we're going toe learn to free yourselves and be okay with being creative I guess that makes sense I think steven had a question for you to go to him first and then the comet and one of the things that you hit on was the hard work and one of my mentors and I always take this into the creative process said that hard work will beat the pants off of talent any day of the week and when I think about that I kind of get into the er forrest gump mode because you think about it most of the inspiration and the creativity that I've had is when you've chased something and you've gone so deep into the concept that you bring everything with it so well I think a lot of people have the mentality that someone's creative it's just all these ideas just hit him all the time and they don't have to work for it and it's just this innate thing that happens and it really is it it's it's a result of hard work and it's the reward from all that hard work and you address that was really nice to hear that thing and that is so true it is hard hard work it is just laborious but the harder you work in the more you do it the easier it becomes you're absolutely right and I find that now that I've worked really hard to be creative more often it is coming more often it truly is it's not a it's not a well that's going to dry up it truly is the more you do the more you create the more creative you are maya angelou hit it perfectly when she said that we don't have a limited amount of creativity is that more creative you are the more you're gonna get it's like exercising the more you run the better your lungs are gonna get so start running okay and it's fun running hard creative it's fun look how much fun you guys had hope with all these little projects on the floor you know it's so neat and you know what makes me so proud patty you don't want to squish those do you yeah you you my three year old would love to squish them but that is awesome but the and and it doesn't matter what you created I mean it could be crap but the fact that you created and you're proud of it is an amazing feeling isn't it I mean it's simple but the fact that I made you use plato makes it okay to love it comment tu about where we learn tio doubt our creativity I have my teaching certificate for k through twelve visual arts um and I think the reason I really never got into teaching fully was because I had issue with telling or grating the child's art you know how do you tell them are you know that's not an a that's that's more of a c and that's one of the reasons when I did teach I liked to teach the elementary age because you know high school is more geared towards you know the great yeah great right but I think maybe that's where some of it stems from is when kids air getting into art school and teachers air you have to give grades I mean there's no way to get around but I took issue with that and I think that's one reason um that I lost maybe some of my created freedom that's a great question do you think schools or killing creativity that's why I home school yeah well you could grate on some of the things that you that you've listed there they're not enthusiastic about it if they're not being you know some of the attributes that you to take to us yeah perseverance if you if you some of those is is a basis for a grade rather than the product itself I think maybe that I kind of wish that that would have that society would make that happen that the idea is not judged more the technical part of that you know improving your technical skill because there is two components of creating art it's the technical skill and then the idea and the creativity and there they totally conflict with one another I mean you know one science and one's heart do you know what I'm saying so it's it's really hard to put two but that's also the beauty of art is you're taking something scientific a painting technique a skill a camera whatever it may be and you're turning it into something that evokes emotion which is incredible um so yeah I think I know where there's some other comments and questions yeah like with a piece like that how do you balance your need for creativity and your need to be happy with what you create with the clients need to love it what do you do when you love something and they're just like ee um I don't know but yeah I was just gonna say that you hit the nail on the head I put it I try I know and I don't do a ton of this kind of commission work for my clients a lot of it's for me but what I do put out there my clients want me to re create that they want me to do something similar so that right there helps if I I wouldn't do something totally new and unique for a client that I'd never done before just because I would be right everything failure lovely thing so that's probably how I would approach it but there are clients out there who are gonna love everything you do and it won't matter they just want you to create something special for them because just the concept that you the artist are are doing it just for them has enormous impact yeah I have one client specifically and I shoot her kids couple times here I'm always there my best clients and she'll just send me money to my bank account should like sent me this much money what will you do with it she's one one I love I'll take working with her favorite and she just appreciate the awesome that's awesome and that's once you get to the point in your brand where your art is it like that's why people hire us for the art they just want a unique you they want a unique piece that you did that's all that matters I mean think about the great artist like stank according she could do anything as far as I'm concerned I would love it it doesn't matter she did it that's what counts and that's the level that I'm not there yet but I would I want to get to that point where in my client's love my art so much that it doesn't matter what I create for them a long as I did it I think that's attainable I mean there's lots of portrait artist like organic medium for starters paint who are at that level and it's wow would not be cool be pretty awesome julie would love to ask a couple questions from online before we go close out our segment belinda had asked we talked about routine being creativity killer can you kind of differentiate between routine and like the workflow that you have to do every day or how do you know how do you break those two things up because you got to do your regular stuff every day right yeah I mean you got a go into your sessions proof your sessions to yourself department I mean it's just it's constantine and in the last past you guys remember I was all about systems I'm like create systems that make it easy for you right and here I am telling you to boss the systems I it's a balance the everyday stuff yeah you want in a system and when we do the beanbag posing this afternoon I'm going to teach you how to do a newborn system on the beam back to move to one post the next year put so you're so you're sessions don't take you four hours to dio um however that kind of work that you know and that is reliable for your clients to get every day is different from the work that is fine art and granted an image on a bean bag okay this is I do this every day for every client okay that's that's an image that every client gets in my studio it's easy saying it out no problem baby asleep baby weight doesn't matter we can do it every time okay I can elevate it to fine art by its presentation and printing okay it's still even just the image itself still has an artistic quality to it because of the color the line the composition the subject matter of the emotion etcetera etcetera especially for the client now you look at it go she's another baby but christa the mom who has that baby thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread okay to her it's much more than just a photograph it is art to her okay so creating images that are just photographs but also art takes understanding design in color in line and what actually the next segment after lunch we're going to talk about that so you can create art within your just your photography and I probably shouldn't say just your photography I'm not really sure how to word it but then when it comes to coming up with new ideas that a direction that you want to move your regular work or a direction that you want to take your personal work your competition work or the work that you ultimately do want to sell to clients that well come from breaking out of routine because when you're grinding through the same thing every day all day same saying same words same this I mean you know it's exhausting you can't think of anything else but the minute you step out of that box and take another route home walk instead of dr stop and count the flowers on the side of the road the minute you throw a wrench in your routine your brain is free all of a sudden to allow a new idea in especially if you're constantly questioning oh those flowers were really pretty there's ten of them I wonder if that would look good in a bucket next to a baby no maybe and you know you're constantly questioning how you could take this into your particular art and it doesn't matter if you're winning star would be if it doesn't matter okay so my routine work is that it's routine it happens every day all the time same thing every day when we get sick of it with so routine okay but to fuel my soul I want to create that I don't ever want to stay here it's pretty I love it it's great but I'm a better I want to move it forward in a direction that makes it even more artistic then that will become a system does that make sense you know you'll see an artist or a musician they'll they'll change styles all of a sudden they'll be doing like bluegrass music and then all of sudden switch to pop that's them going on routine routine routine which oh inspiration let's go to this level master it perfected let's change gears and change course you'll see artists change their style all the time it happens there's nothing wrong with it it's actually very good it means they're constantly involved in that creative process so yes routine is fully part of what you do on a daily basis but you need that external inspiration to take that routine elsewhere you don't want to get stagnant right and when you're first starting out it's all about just getting to this part of the system and the you know creating consistent work that is artistic right but then once you've been here for a little while you start to go I've done that a thousand times boring thousand times sporting so you want to be inspired to move it somewhere else and by breaking up your routine finding your things asking questions you open your mind to play like a child again and when you play you come up with new ideas you enjoy the process of creating to create and the results come no matter what