For this exercise, after reflecting on the coursework content on documenting & reflecting on work, and creating good work habits, I was asked to answer the following questions:
What do you need to be creative?
To be creative I need to have a problem to solve. Problems aren't always bad things - sometimes they are challenges, and other times they might be constraints I have set for myself for the sake of doing so. It's why illustration appeals to me - a brief helps to challenge me and gives me a distinct problem to solve.
I also need to feel that the challenge is within my skill set. If I feel that something is too simple, easy or conversely far too challenging, my creativity withers away. I am sure I will cover this more as I look into the flow state, so I won't go into too much depth here.
Are there certain factors that are important for you to develop your work?
I need to be able to let my ideas percolate. Whilst other people can dive into their work, I need to slowly build up everything I need. This can sometimes look like procrastination, but a metaphor would be like laying down dominos, ready to cascade. It takes as much effort for me to carefully mentally stack ideas, focus, motivation, mull over options etc. as it does to actually execute the work.
The challenge comes in balancing that necessary work in my head, and the risk of getting consumed by it. So I am learning to look for opportunities to get things out of my head in fits and spurts (usually with a sketchbook, but post-its also help a lot).
I think a big part of this way of working is down to the way that my brain makes sense through context, connections and networks. While it's percolating it's not just laying down the dominos, it's allowing the opportunity for all of the different aspects to connect, blend and merge with each other in my head. This allows me to see opportunities that I might not otherwise have noticed.
Again, getting things down onto paper is helpful in its own right - if I can do this now and again as I develop my work, there is the opportunity to not just record where I am at, but it also has the benefit of freeing up more space for my brain to make new connections. On top of that, just like I noticed when I reflected on painting model figures, the act of documenting these ideas has the chance to feedback into the connection process itself, becoming a new source of ideas itself.
When, where, and how do you work? How might you develop this approach further?
Because it takes time for my brain to percolate and work itself up to activation, I work best when I have quiet space. So if I am out and about by myself, that is usually the best place for me to sketch in a pocket-sized sketchbook. Fit the activity into the gaps of whatever else I am doing.
If I want to invest time in painting, I find planning a dedicated time to do that plein air is the best way to focus on the work without distraction. I can also make sure I have everything I want to take with me in my kit bag, which gives me a sense of confidence.
For getting other work done, I have noticed an odd behaviour where, in the daytime, I might get fragments of ideas, thoughts about my work, or an upcoming exercise. But everything is too noisy and busy - it's hard to put it into action, grab a sketchbook and get going. I find that I almost have to wear all of that out.
So once my wife and son have gone to bed, I get this creative second-wind. It might be really late, but suddenly there is purpose and clarity, and I can get a lot of work done. Everything seems to just fit into place. I wish that I could access that clarity earlier in the day because it can often result in many late nights, and not enough sleep. That isn't sustainable or healthy in the long term.
Given your creative process, how do you best document your work?
What kinds of questions do you use to reflect on your work?
I am best when I can document my work in a robust and useful sketchbook. It needs to feel like a tool to me. Like it has a purpose. When I reflect on the work that I create, I prefer to make notes beforehand - I will often do this on scrap paper, or large post-its, but sometimes will also use a sketchbook for this. This is a way of collating my thoughts in a raw and unfiltered way. Then I like to just write - the notes help me to structure what I have noticed, what I am feeling and what I want to do next about things. They don't always get used in the order I first wrote them down.
I find that the act of writing helps me to design, evolve and tweak the structure of my reflections as I go. It's like I have to be in motion with the activity itself in order to see it and develop it further. My reflections are often initially driven by the coursework I have been doing. It's only when I start at that superficial level that I discover other ideas and observations sitting just under the surface. But I wouldn't even know they were there if I don't start writing my learning logs.
How important is reflection to your process?
I don't believe I am very good at objectively reflecting on my work outside of the structure that coursework provides. While I am developing work, I will often make notes for myself by annotating my work in my sketchbooks, but after I have completed a piece, unless I have some kind of prompt, I find it very difficult to go back to that work and pick it apart in order to learn.
That doesn't mean that reflection is not important to me and my work. I think where reflections are most powerful is when I use them for personal introspection. It gives me a place to pause and be present rather than rushing ahead. To notice with better clarity what is going in my internal world.
Can you develop new questions or prompts?
I would like to develop a more methodical core set of questions/prompts which I can apply to the majority of the work I produce, as a way of getting my brain to notice and focus on things that I might otherwise rush past or overlook. I was wondering if a book like this would be useful to create such a working method?
I think it will also be useful to see if I can discover the reflective habits of other cross-disciplinary creatives. There will likely be ideas I can steal and tweak from many fields, and it gives me an opportunity to synthesise something which is tailored to my personal learning needs, rather than "cargo-culting" any particular method.
How does this reflection help feed back into your making?
As I mentioned above, the act of writing helps me think in the same way as talking things through out loud with someone. So the process becomes generative in its own right, and sometimes new ideas and connections can be created as a result.
I have found that when I have done end-of-assignment reflections, I have found it useful to set out a plan or list my intentions. I don't always manage to follow through with all of them, but where possible I try to make sure that I weave my intentions into the following section.
I think that if I have a more repeatable and robust way of critiquing my work, I will be able to better identify specific areas which I can work on and plan for in isolation. I think this will make more use of my sketchbooks etc.
How would you describe your creative process?
Painful?
In all seriousness, I often find the initiation part of creativity very difficult. Unless there is an idea burned into my head - in which case the start is easy but tearing myself away to look at other perspectives is painful!
My creative process is a contradiction of methodology and whimsy. I like to start with organising my thoughts, then move to structured exploration based on those thoughts. During that exploration, I also conduct research, which can be a bit of a rabbit hole. That's not always a bad thing as long as I remember to come back to where I was.
Similarly, as I explore and research I can get distracted by an idea or image that takes me off at a tangent, which might or might not be related to the work. I don't see the rabbit holes and tangents as negative aspects of my process. They supply a source of potential new ideas, connections and metaphors to my work. More than one time something I have loved about one of my pieces has come from a random and unexpected diversion.
The trick I am learning is to be more conscious about when whimsy strikes, and try and be present enough to recognise the need to not only go off and adventure, but return with treasure.
What sort of stages do you go through to initiate and develop your ideas and work?
Put brain onto the page
Make connections
Use connections to explore, sketch and research
Integrate & review
If needed, go back to 3 and iterate
Selection
Rough plans: Create variations
Start the work, improvise on the go
Finish the work
Share the work.
How important are restrictions to the process?
Essential. I think I have covered this a lot above, so I won't repeat my points.
I do not believe you can have creativity without constraint.
Do you start with an idea or proposal, start making and see where it takes you, or work in a different way?
Again, I have explored this above. I find it most useful to have a brief or otherwise set out constraints and boundaries. Sometimes I have set myself briefs. This has been very useful but I find the process of writing the brief difficult. I would like to improve this skill, and perhaps challenge myself with briefs to create dream projects or pretend I am working for dream clients.
Do you have any strategies to deal with creative blocks or obstacles?
What does experimentation look like to you?
Honestly, the best thing for me to do when I have a creative obstacle is something else. Too often I feel like sitting there thinking about the problem will help. It doesn't. The best thing to do is to do something different. Sometimes that can be feeding my creativity with new ideas or inspiration through comics, books, games or movies.
At other times what I need is to really get out. At the very least have a walk, or go on a drive. Or do physical exercise or jobs around the house. Do something that occupies my conscious mind so that my unconscious can quietly work on the problem in the background.
I don't think I am good at experimentation. I like to gradually push my skills in certain things, but I don't think my approach to my art is very playful. I don't randomly grab things and turn them into paintbrushes, or stick random pieces of card, taffeta and wrapping paper into my sketchbook. It makes me sound like I don't have an imagination, but that's not true.
As a boy I loved Lego, I would constantly make, unmake and try new things. But it wasn't at random - I would think of a cool story or scenario and then muddled my way through until I had built something that seemed to match what was in my head. It's hard for me to say if my experimentation has changed now I am an adult or not. But I do think that my experimentation is very intuitive. Perhaps surprisingly for someone who likes a methodical process overall, my approach for iterating and experimenting is not structured at all. It's driven by intuition and instinct.
I do think that this means that I may not experiment with as wide a range of media as other artists might. I feel the tension of expectation there - like I am meant to do that. But that also angers me - if I feel an affinity with certain media, then why am I forced to use media I don't want to?
Where do you work, what kind of physical spaces do you need?
I explored this in a preview exercise, I am not going to repeat myself.
When do you work, and how best can you structure your time?
Again, see above in this post.
How do you draw on inspiration to feed your creativity?
I am a geek, and I love to read, watch and consume different media. I strongly believe that all of these different inputs influence my work. I also love to be stimulated by the world. Spending time walking in a forest or along the roaring shoreline not only brings me a sense of inner peace but feeds my soul.
The world can be a wonderful, terrible yet inspirational place. I find it an amazing source of ideas, and also the best way to find reflections of my inner landscape.
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