How can I be creative when I’m not?

[ryokoseigo]

What should I do to improve my arts appeal?  Atm I do 90% of my work from photo reference because I really don’t have any ideas.   In this painting, I added the hat, and gave her the hairstyle, but it still amounts to very little.  I do anime stuff off and on as an alternative, which I’m alright at, but even that I’ve only really ever done basic poses for.(see display pic)  The photo below was my attempt at altering a photo reference by only rendering parts of it, and well as you can see my only ideas when it comes to working abstract is to have the painting basically disintegrate. (I realized when I finished that I’d literally done that same thing before, which shows how bad I am)  I still greatly enjoy flexing my technical skills, but I can’t seem to do so while also creating anything people want to look at.

 

• This topic was modified 4 years ago by ryokoseigo.
• This topic was modified 4 years ago by ryokoseigo.

[Joshua Jacobo]

You need to spend time every day sketching from imagination. Don’t worry about what people want to look at. Just draw and let your imagination roam. Getting comfortable designing is just a matter of practice. Also do daily studies of the Old Masters this will help you learn the language of design.

[xelael]

Hello, ryoko.

I understand how you feel, personally. My suggestion is much the same as Joshua’s, which is: practice. However, in doing so, it’s very easy to get stuck and frustrated because the ideas just don’t come to you. And even when they do, you can’t realize them on paper without resorting to some reference.

So, how do you deal with that?

The first thing you should truly internalize, and this goes for all of us, is to not be afraid to make mistakes. To create something that doesn’t look good. It’s okay to make something truly horrible. In fact, that’s the only way forward. Be comfortable with where you are now, and then move forward from that. Not everything you do, well, most things you’ll ever do are not ever going to be publishable, and that’s normal.

Once you get comfortable doodling with yourself, you need to get comfortable with how you work, which is very personal. It’s true, some people are just brimming with creative ideas, almost effortlessly, even if to realize them they’ve obviously spent years practicing. But to some of us, that’s not the case, just as to some people, it’s not easy to analyze something visually and transfer that to paper, proportions, value and color all accurately. I assume you follow the latter tendency, good observational skills, talented copying what you see, but not really that free to create from your own imagination. You need to get comfortable with that fact, too, and capitalize on it. Don’t be afraid to copy, to use references, to get to where you want. Everything that gets you stuck is not good for you, so if you ever stop drawing or practicing because you don’t want to do it from reference, forget that idea and just do it.

What those two things will do is essentially help you develop your creativity, which is there, trust me, and help you build a visual library that you can always call upon once you’ve done enough of it. It does take a lot of practice, and it might take a lot of copying, but humans learn that way. That’s essentially how we get to do everything we do since we are born: copying other people. Study them, absorb as much as possible, but don’t forget to nurture your own creativity too so that it can use what you get from everybody else.

PS: specifically about your painting, watch those eyes, as they relate to the rest of the face. The axis looks off. Great paint handling in the mouth and nose, though.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by xelael.

[Josseline Jeria]

Hi Ryoko

I struggle a lot with drawing from imagination too – it makes me feel the most uncomfortable than any other artistic practice.

I think for me one of the struggles is when I think of what I want to draw, my mind can’t focus on anything specific, as it is trying to draw out of an immense pool of imagery so everything just blurs to nothing. I am focusing on drawing what I know most, what I’ve observed most when drawing from reference, which for me is heads. I also focus on what interests me most. Both are important. I wouldn’t be fair to ask of myself to draw a tarantula if I have never or have little experience drawing one from reference, but if I’m not interested in drawing them in the first place, my ability to persist would be low.

Also, remind yourself there are MANY ways to be creative. You don’t necessarily have to create something that doesn’t exist or hasn’t been done before. Remember that the greatest artists draw ideas and lessons from each other, and combine them in different ways. The way you use and combine colours, the way you express line and colour, the way you apply paint, the way you compose an image, the subject matter, these are all examples of the many ways to be creative.

Study your art history, learn how other artists developed their styles, collect images of what you like to try find common themes. Analyse your favourite artists – take note of what aspects of their work you like. Really try to break it down, be specific. This’ll all help to inform you to give direction towards developing your own style.

Most of all, don’t force it and stress over it 🙂 your style will express itself in time.

I have no style as of yet, but I am sure it will develop the more I learn and practice 🙂

Good luck!

[Josseline Jeria]

I forgot to add – probably one of the most important aspects in developing your style – Digging deep to find and listen to your artistic voice 🙂 what do you want to say with your art? what are your intentions? what story do you want to tell? all these kind of questions can help give some good direction.

[Joshua Jacobo]

@ChrisLegaspi has critiqued your work!

[Ramona Hornung]

Ryokoseigo, stop beating yourself up. You are creative, all else is nonsense, each one of us is, naturally, and when someone is not it’s because something has come between  life’ s natural creativity and the soul of the person.  In that case, it’s a matter of developing trust, and letting go of control and healing that wound.

A few things I can tell you out of my experience, maybe they help.

Firstly, realize that you cannot be artist/creator and judge/critic all at the same time; these two are at war with one another. You let go of the critic so that you can “mess up” , because the critic is your rational mind, and it only knows what it has already encountered before and can recognize, whereas true creation is new, and the critic gets scared because it does not know if it’s good or bad, and it really really needs to judge things in these terms.

secondly, and it follows from the first, you let go of reason and calculation and control in order to create. What you do is engage deeply, without disturbances, with what you are just envolved in doing, with the tools and materials , you flow with each moment, you react to each mark you make  with the next mark… all this time, the critic gets gently pushed aside, and kept at distance; the day after, you can call him in for a “ critique” and hear what he has to say, but keeping in mind what I already mentioned about his natural fear and need to play it safe, support stuff it already knows.

thirdly, you must consider the development and change of your work as any other natural process, gradual, slow, in tiny increments, which will only show their direction in the long run. A rose bud, is very well different from the fully opened bloom, and the bud does not betray its potential. So, in practice, the one mark you make today, which looks to you like nothing much, as these disintegrating abstract marks in this piece, may be just the first step on a staircase, which in time, takes you somewhere new, a place you cannot even imagine now.  This is true creativity. If you know how your picture will look , if you drive for a specific outcome, then you miss the boat, you are a crafts person , not an artist.  What you strive for, I guess, the goal, is to express something that feels true to you.  So, you accept the marks you put down on the canvas and ask yourself, “what can I do to it now?”, always engage the work, always ask questions and be open to the answers which come through. When you hear it in your head :” oh, this does not look right, it’s a mess! “ recognize, this is a judgement, hence, it comes from the critic. Let your creative part intervene and ask a productive question like: “ I don’t like this, why? Is it the color? Is it its size?‘“  I hope you get the gist of what I’ m driving at.  Questions are welcomed!

I wish you well! And above all, patience.

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