Creativity - Green is not a creative colour

Creativity is one of the 2 main things that artists say you must have, to be successful in anything creative which is very true, (the other is originality, which is for next week) you need to be creative if your job is essentially taking ideas out of your head and making them real. Problem is that you can be very creative and not creative as well.

Not creative is usually due to you jumping at the first idea that pops into your head, for example you think of this awesome idea for a pirate, so you jump straight into making a large fully finished piece, but when you look at after all that work, you realise that you should have done it in a different pose, then you think that the beard should be longer, then you think ect ect. 

So instead of jumping straight in and doing something at a final piece quality, take your time to do some concepts, explore the ideas you have, until you feel that you’ve exhausted all avenues, then pick one concept and do a few more concepts, except this time it’s more about the small details than the big ones.

Of course I’m sure you’re wondering “Do we have to do this all the time, for every piece?” Which is no you don’t, if you’re not going to be doing something to a high quality level, then don’t bother, let your pencil wander and see where it takes you.

Now are there any taboos in creativity? Well kinda, there are some topics in art that are considered uncreative, fantasy and science fiction are considered to be 2 of the most uncreative genres in art when designing characters, as the genres seem to be composed of guys in hulking armour, babes wearing practically nothing and monsters composed of claws, teeth and not much else. Not all fantasy and sci-fi art is like this, if you look around hard enough you will find stuff that tends to break the themes, ironically Dungeons & Dragons is a good place to start for good fantasy artwork, while sci-fi is best found on Deviant Art, sadly you will have to wade through the rubbish/porn/sanity destroying horrors that are on there, but there is some great pieces on there if you can find them.

Want some tips to help you be creative, well here’s a list of pointers that I find helpful.

For starters figure out what you want to do and what you don’t want to do, if you can cut down the avenues to explore, you can cut down the time it takes to do concepts, plus you’re more likely to think of ideas that meet the criteria for what you want to make.

Look at other artists work, look at real world examples, different cultures, history, watch films, play games, read books, read comics,  just absorb as much knowledge you can and if possible, keep references that you can easily get at, so you can go back and look at any details you may want to use in your own concept. One thing to keep in mind is not to let your reference completely lead you, so if you have to copy things only take small details not big ones.

Can’t think of anything? Come back at a later date, take a break, play a game for 30mins, watch tv, go for a walk or run, do something that does not involve trying to think of ideas for your project.

Got questions? Comment on this post and I’ll be sure to get back to you at some point.