There are two forms of creative effort: casual art and deliberate art. These are two completely different ballgames, requiring very different approaches.
Think of casual art as a walk in the park: we feel like going outside, the weather is fine, we have time - so we put on shoes, and off we go. Such a stroll is typically between a few minutes and a couple of hours long, and just like casual art, involves no specific requirements and no big expectations.
Deliberate art is more like a trip abroad. For most of us, such a trip involves a significant investment, great expectations, specific requirements (e.g. visiting a particular site), and many practical problems to solve. This is a different situation - we no longer put on shoes and take off. Instead we collect information, plan ahead, and make certain decisions in advance. We also demand of ourselves a certain level of self-discipline during the trip itself. I think most of us will agree, that going on a trip abroad in the same way we go walking in the park, would pretty much set us up for a disappointing trip.
The same goes for creative work. Approaching our deliberate art too casually, would almost certainly get us disappointing results. As we shall soon see, this very mistake is responsible for many (if not all) of the most familiar and frustrating problems artists regularly struggle with.
Think of casual art as a walk in the park: we feel like going outside, the weather is fine, we have time - so we put on shoes, and off we go. Such a stroll is typically between a few minutes and a couple of hours long, and just like casual art, involves no specific requirements and no big expectations.
Deliberate art is more like a trip abroad. For most of us, such a trip involves a significant investment, great expectations, specific requirements (e.g. visiting a particular site), and many practical problems to solve. This is a different situation - we no longer put on shoes and take off. Instead we collect information, plan ahead, and make certain decisions in advance. We also demand of ourselves a certain level of self-discipline during the trip itself. I think most of us will agree, that going on a trip abroad in the same way we go walking in the park, would pretty much set us up for a disappointing trip.
The same goes for creative work. Approaching our deliberate art too casually, would almost certainly get us disappointing results. As we shall soon see, this very mistake is responsible for many (if not all) of the most familiar and frustrating problems artists regularly struggle with.
Stay tuned - in the next "the art of art" posts, we're going to learn an approach to deliberate art, that will help you improve the quality of your work AND enjoy your creative "trips" more than ever!
Hi Gigo - This book is super cool!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing more of it, especially the parts we didn't get to hear on your lecture.
Is it possible to get a copy?
Hey Talia, Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteI can print you a copy (look here), however soon I'll have it professionally paged and designed, so you might want to wait just a bit :)