For the Hungry Artist
This isn’t quite what I’d expected, but I’m glad you picked me.
I guess I was thinking it would end sooner than this. Ya know, that I’d be in the fireplace by now or whittled into something.
Anything but this.
How did this all start? With you guys bringing teenaged trees inside your homes and putting this junk on us?
So odd.
[box color=gray, center]”What are the core lessons you learned along the way that it would have been helpful to have known before you got started?”[/box]
Seymour Jacklin posed this question at the end of this amazing post. It really got me thinking about the three things I currently find helpful in my creative process.
+Never stop discovering and learning. Be a toddler. Their quest for knowledge is insatiable.
+Embrace foolishness. Give yourself the freedom to be foolish, make mistakes, and stop censoring your creative-self. You just might increase that 2% of work that is amazing and top quality to 4%. That doubles my chances of creating something truly awesome.
+Enjoy discipline. It’s tremendously freeing to get up early and create every day. Even if it’s just for 15-20 minutes. It feeds that part of you that needs the fuel. If you don’t feed it, your day is bland and tasteless. If you do feed your ‘creative,’ he makes appearances in the would-be mundane of everyday activities.
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What about you? What are your tips for creative propulsion?
My wife and I have a little creative project called A Couple Comments (here’s our Facebook Page). It’s a he said/she said take on what’s new out there.
And it’s a lot of fun and silliness.
Recently we took a gander at Martin Scorsese’s film Hugo and made a brief video review. If you’ve seen the film, leave a comment below. We’d love to know what you thought of Hugo.
Most of us don’t want to feel old. Even fewer of us want to look old. Yet extreme measures to cover up our age aren’t always successful. For instance, let’s just say that the following story is true.
Because it is.
A guy in his mid-thirties starts to lose his hair. He has a few options.
“I just don’t feel inspired right now.”
“Not really feeling creative.”
“I can’t work under a deadline. My creativity doesn’t happen like that.”
Bull@#$*. For real. I don’t like to use strong language, yet sometimes you gotta call it what it is.
Especially if it’s ruining your artist and your life.
With the release of The Muppets movie, I’m misty-eyed over Jim Henson and all he brought us. Even now, you’ve probably got songs, scenes, and silly images running through your mind just at the mention of the Henson name.
Creative legacy. A few things his work inspired…
1. Explore fearlessly. Pigs in prime time. Pigs in love with frogs.
2. Say ‘what if’ and see what happens. At the time The Dark Crystal was made, it was hailed as the only live action film in which a human actor makes no appearance.
3. Go against the grain. He had a Bachelor’s degree in Home Economics.
Tolstoy had 13 children and still found time to write War and Peace.
Making it all Hollywood style today. . .
As I sit here, watching NBC’s The Biggest Loser, I felt compelled to do a rewrite of a recent post… kill that loser enemy.
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“I’ll try.” They’re demon words.
Just say “I won’t and I can’t.”
‘I’ll try’ is a disease…
Continue reading “Biggest Loser Lessons for Creatives: The ‘I’ll Try’”
My wife got this in the mail to remind her to schedule a visit to the Doctor’s office…
Marketing/advertizing/out-of-the-box-creative-thinker people, help me out here… what’s the intent?
Feel free to write a caption for the frog in the comments…