For Monday's concept development class, Jimmy Moss had us spend the first ten minutes seating ourselves in alphabetical order by our first names. At first we were trying to used the roll sheet to find out the order of our names, but that sadly failed as Jimmy walked back into the classroom to find us still scattered and dumbfounded with all of our belonging in hand. Eventually we sat ourselves in order and we started by discussing our homework.
The assignment of the day was to choose a word or a set of words and find ten different images that change the meaning and mood of the image. In comparison with our last assignment, which was the opposite; to find ten phrases that changes the mood or meaning for one single image. In my opinion, part 2 of this assignment was more difficult than part 1. In discussing our assignment, the creative process was emphasized and it was noted that everyone had their own individual creative process, from start to finish, everyone is unique in processing the problem of the assignment and in final execution of their final product. This point was made when Jimmy asked three different students; what problem were they trying to solve with this particular homework assignment. I was one of them. My problem was finding images to match/symbolize the phrase that I choose. The second student said, that they looked for images that changed the mood and the meaning of their chosen phrase. The third student, said that they started by choosing ten images and then found a word or phrase to accompany her images. I think that the second student understood the problem the best but I'm sure the rest of the class had slightly different interpretation of what Jimmy intended.
Methodologically if we were to go over everyones photos, everyones approach would be different. Jimmy says, "that everyone does things differently and in design, each one of us does something, really well."
Jimmy continued our class discussion by emphasizing that "sometimes, it's good to solve problems as a group. And that sometimes it's a good idea to ask for help." For myself, I'm afraid to admit that my ego sometimes doesn't let me ask for help because I think to myself that the people around me might not be giving me the right information and I would have to research for myself if I really wanted the correct information. Although, I do think that to get ahead more efficiently, you have to be collaborative or at least work in a small group to get things done consistently. Sometimes it's that extra motivation from not wanting to let your colleagues down that pushes you to excel in any and all your endeavors that are group centered.
For me, once I get the strength to set my ego aside and fully embrace working with others to solve a problem in developing concepts, I find it invigorating, helpful and quite fun, I might add.
The first video was of Paula Scher, famous graphic designer and design educator. Most of her designs incorporate type that is loud, visible, and noticeable. She created the Citi logo in seconds, however, her rational was that it took 30 years of education, knowledge and experience to step out of an office and to create a famous logo in second. Scher says that, "the moment that you figure it out, it's really exciting." And with that statement, I agree. When I find several solutions for a problem, or even just one good one, it does become exciting and all I want to do is share it with the world. Well at least after I patent it!
The second video was a TED Talks video of Elizabeth Gilbert. Elizabeth Gilbert is a writer who is most famous for her book, Eat, Pray, Love which was made into a movie. Gilbert loves and is fascinated with writing. She thinks her success was a phenomena and dwells on the fact that her friends and colleagues ask her if she is afraid of failure or rejection of her next work. I think all creative people has a little fear in them of rejection or failure. She says that most artist are perceived as, "dangerously, mentally unstable," and she doesn't want to turn out like that. And who really does? I know I don't! Gilbert also brought back the history of ancient Greece and Rome and said that these civilizations believed that art was only created by creative spirits and not by humans but through humans as their medium. I find this ideology to this belief to be interesting and with all the talent now and through history, I wonder if these spirits can exist in us. And what are the creative process of these creative spirits? My favorite part about her talk was her story about meeting the American poet, Ruth Stone and how Stone described how poems would come to her while she was working on the fields. It's amazing how stories from older people are more fun and easier to remember like the movie (I know this is off subject but), Big Fish. In Gilbert final talk, she gave the best advise any artist can give to another artist, "don't be afraid, don't be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that might be." She says, "If your job is to dance, do your dance," and that's the best that an artist or a designer can do for themselves to be self-sufficient and successful in all the work that they do. And finally she states, "Ole! to you nonetheless... just for having the sheer human love and stubbornness to keep showing up." She couldn't have said it any better!
In continuation of our class discussion, here are the following answers to the four questions on the creative process:
1. Have you experienced your own or other people's fear-based reactions to your creative education and career choices?
There are so many fear-based reactions to my creative education as well as my career choice. Being an older student, most of my peers are in two separate boats, either they are finished with school long ago and working in their careers or the other half are stuck after starting a family early with children and marriage. Some are successful, and few are happy. My family never really had a say or input in what I wanted to do with my life, I went about my own path with very little guidance as all my parents knew were to work hard and to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. Our, meaning me and my other four siblings. Coming from a large family, you would think that there would be many pressures as to my success however, I didn't . As I was the youngest of five, there was little of any pressure at all placed on the youngest child. Most of my fear-based reactions are inward with self-justification for what I wanted to pursue and what I wanted out of life. I tell myself all the time, "aren't you afraid you're not good enough?" Isn't there too much competition in my field?" And, "Do you really think you're going to get anywhere in this career?" What I really want is to be a life-long learner in the art and design field and maybe someday educate others or be a mentor. I dream of pursuing a position as a graphic design in a large corporation. And later in life I want to take all that experience and knowledge and put it into my own business, whether it be a freelance artist or running an online boutique. We all have many dreams and goals but our fears are what slows us down. If we could just set those fears aside for even just a few hours a day, we would be much closer to our goals. And once that's implemented, happiness sets in. The real goal behind all this success chase. Just pure happiness.
2. How have you successfully overcome these reactions?
My reactions are steadily being overcome as it's one of the toughest things, being your own worst critic. I would say that dealing with fear-based reactions not only from my self and others will continue to be a life-long issue that any artist will have to address. To the best of my abilities, I would approach it by staying positive, keeping oneself informed with new technology is also key and recapping on the history of the art form you study, which is graphic design for me, I believe will keep me rejuvenated in the design world. This will also better prepare me for any negativity that floats my way. Stay connected. And continue to network with liked-minded individuals to overcome common obstacles and road blocks together, as a support group.
3. What is your concept of your creative process?
When I really dig deep into my own concept of my creative process, I usually start every project by addressing what is needed. As a visual communicator, our goal is to find solutions to better communicate to a set audience what is needed to be said and when is the best time to say it. My first step in my creative process is writing out the questions or tasks that are required. Then I find myself doing research and sketches, looking into the meaning and purpose of the tasks and figuring out who would benefit from it or who needs to benefit from it. If necessary, I'll meet with the person in charge or the client to discuss further what is needed so that I can start finding solutions or start creatively generating visual, concepts or ideas to present as a first draft. After the first draft is presented and good and bad points are addressed, I go back into the project and rework the task to the best of my ability until I come close to a preliminary composition of what I envision the final solution will be. Again the comp is discuss and then after approval, I go in and clean up, finalize, or redo anything which needs reworking. In my creative process, there are needs to be met. And I am a do'er, constantly finding new ways to solve the problems that are handed to us which would help others better communicate with each other through visual techniques. As well as creating to produce something, I always try to find out if what was created was effective, how many people it reached out to, and what kind of people it reached out to. Once you find this out over a period of trial and errors, I believe that you'll be able increase your success in that one particular problem or task. And then on to the next!
4. How do you approach creating, making?
During my creative process, sketching and brain-storming becomes a big part of the process right before you start your brilliant creations. For example, in my 3D art class, we are utilizing material such as sheet metal and granulated sugar or powder to make a non-objective sculptural creation. From my sketches that come from my imagination, I begin to make models with card stock paper, many paper models until I come up with one that is quite enjoyable aesthetically but non-objectively. From there, because the project is 3-dimensional I go back to sketching to find out what pieces I need to make this creation happen. Then, I find the precise measurements, and not until then do I start creating with touching; artist hands to materials and tools. I don't always get it right the first time and this is what I've learned. Taking my time helps! And along the way, you always have to improvise. But in the end, I always try to make it work. If not the first time, then not until it's right! Damn it!
From this question, I would like to share my creative process in my 3D Art class:
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