Opinion

Publish date:

01/09/05 @985

Editor:

thought-transference in creativity

Creativity is often used as an instrument for therapy. I guess when someone gives in to creative impulses, they create spaces in their emotional barricades. Creativity is part of our emotional capacities.
But how does that work when creativity is a job?
The process of creating artwork will involve a lot of planning, thinking for target-groups, discipline, deadlines, clients, etc. So where does that leave the artists?
Ofcourse, he/she gets the privilege of putting in their style and maybe some ideals. But can creating art in assignments have an emotional building value for the artist?
I am convinced it can. But not if the artist hasn't learned how to express his/her own feelings in communicative pieces.

As an art-teacher I often see students struggling with the flipside of creating commercial arts. They often think that creating art in assignment is dry, keeping distant, being 'proffessional'. But that doesn't have to be true.
It all has something to do with the word 'must'. Or 'Have to'. One assosciates this with obligations and responsibilities. 'Control freaks' trip over it, and so do 'slacks', but they both do it for the same reason.
I once learned the saying: 'Reality doesn't excist, only perception.'
First you have to learn how to track all the 'musts' in an assignment. Once you have found these, you could hold on to these obligations. That is, in my optics, a negative approach.
The positive approach would be to determine the 'musts', simply because that gives you insight in what the area of freedom is.
Once you've made thinking this into a habit, and you've made sure you know what you have to take into consideration, you can focus on what YOU want with an assignment. What are your ideals? What are the possibilities?

There is ofcourse the enemy: The biggest enemy to an artist is 'the infinite possibility'. Once you've learned how to spot the ammount of freedom that an assignment offers, this is a new problem that shows up. how do you deal with that? The answer is as simple as the problem is complicated: Do. Move. Action.
In Buddhism they say: 'Everything that is truely still, is dead. All that lives, moves. And movement can only move forward. There is no decline in life.'
So with that in mind, what would be the reason in fearing failure?

Emotions can be communicated. We can see, hear, smell and feel emotions in our surrounding and ourselves. That means we can also depict them. How?
By showing litteral actions and situations? That is a possibility. But an obvious one. By letting viewers interpretate our images, we create possibilities for different interpretations. This can be exploited by using colors, compositions, stroke- and linetypes, etc.
What does color do to the emotion of the viewer? Is this universal? Maybe. According to Carl Gustav Jung it is. (see: Archetypes) What does composition do the way an image communicates? What influence does stroke- and linetype do to the way an image expresses emotion?
When you experiment on art with the answers to these type of questions in mind, you can steer in the direction of what emotion you want to depict.
And chances are, when you stay sharp and objective, you're vision will reach the majority of the viewers.

In theory this is all very dry and rational.
Maybe you can try to look at artworks with the following questions in mind:
-What atmosphere does this image breathe?
-What elements and way of handelling the medium influence my experience of this image?

These were some thoughts i wanted to share with you, my fellow artists and art-students. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the topic.

Jeroenadmiraal

01/16/05 @703

This is exactly where I am struggling with these days. As you grow in making art, more people begin to notice you. Although I see it as a great honor to produce something for other people, I intend to say yes to everything and do not have enough time to finish everything, but I don't want to disappoint people. This is where the element of pressure and deadlines comes in.

I also find it hard to choose between projects of myself and assignments that I've taken. I mostly wait to get some inspiration before I begin to draw, but that inspiration is always for projects of my own ( I just like them more) than for assignments, but when I just start drawing for an assignment without waiting for inspiration, I am still happy with the outcome.

Anyway, congratulations with your elite-status!!

ARTOONATOR

01/17/05 @804

Thanks Jeroen.
When you start doing assignments you should realise that creativity and inspiration are like muscles. They should be trained.

reilanchan

02/01/05 @560

"But can creating art in assignments have an emotional building value for the artist?
I am convinced it can. But not if the artist hasn't learned how to express his/her own feelings in communicative pieces."

I think I have the same opinion that's why I try to make steps forward with my craft because there always was the problem in the past that I couldn't express what I had in my mind because I didn't know how.

Quizzical

03/28/05 @643

Interesting thoughts, all put very nicely.
"There is of course the enemy: The biggest enemy to an artist is 'the infinite possibility'. Once you've learned how to spot the ammount of freedom that an assignment offers, this is a new problem that shows up. how do you deal with that? The answer is as simple as the problem is complicated: Do. Move. Action."
I received my AS exam spec a month ago and found that to be the biggest dilemma -- the topic, Viewpoints, allows for an incredible amount of freedom. And so, as if it were the logical step forward, I fell into a rut of inaction. I can sit for hours, thinking and tapping my pencil -- it's truly fantastic. XD
Anyway, your advice is sensible and I needed it very much, as simple as it is.

ARTOONATOR

03/28/05 @820

Glad to be of service to you

Fooxoo

05/13/05 @907

You know Arne, we had to write an Essay at my university about Writing with Feeling. I think it is the same thing. The main thing we discussed was the fact that it is very hard to find fun, feeling, something to like, when you are writing, for example, a school paper on a dull subject. In the end we came to the conclusion, that if you can find something in it, some emotion, like, something you totally disagree to, any kind of emotion or opinion, it will be much easier to accept what you have to do. You have to find something that either attracts or disgusts you, then it will not bore you, but you will be able to play with it. Same is with art you are forced to do for a client. if you can make the process pleasurable in some way, or make it draw some kind of emotion from it, you will both succeed and will get some experience from it. Sooo doing your job is not a bad thing, and you can learn from it... Ok I ll stop prattling...

ARTOONATOR

05/14/05 @567

Yes. I think the only way to get close to an assignment is this:
Sum up the 'musts' in an assignment, so you can define the freedom in it.
Focus on that free element to stimulate creativity, and reflect that on the 'musts', and so on.
That is a way that has proven to work well for me.

metapuppet

04/30/06 @079

not about to go into a discussion this time

.. but some parts i pretty much enjoyed
iooa:
"Reality doesn't exist, only perception." /can't be told often enough
'the infinite possibility" /good to have this verbalized
"Everything that is truely still, is dead. All that lives, moves. And movement can only move forward. There is no decline in life. So with that in mind, what would be the reason in fearing failure?" /the more failure the success
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7050/009tt.jpg /the best kisses

...
keep rockin dude

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Category:

Opinion

Publish date:

01/09/05 @985

Editor:

ARTOONATOR

Comments:

Comments (8)

thought-transference in creativity

01/16/05 @703

01/17/05 @804

02/01/05 @560

03/28/05 @643

03/28/05 @820

05/13/05 @907

05/14/05 @567

04/30/06 @079

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