We’ve ALL had those moments where we are sitting in front of a blank canvas and wondering if our sense of creativity left town. We’ve also all had the moments where you are sitting in front of a work of art and suddenly you are overtaken by the idea that everything you touch turns into a steaming pile of crap.
Today Klee and I recorded a podcast where we were talking about the creative process and remembering your greatness as an artist and human.
I think a lot of artists are under the assumption that professional artists know exactly what they’re doing from beginning to end. I can tell you right now, that that is bullshit. None of us know what we are doing when it comes to the creative process.
One thing I could tell you as a bumbling artist, trying to make this creative life a thing, is that the creative process behind the artwork is not as mysterious as a lot of people would love to make it seem.
When you are blocked or you feel like the art you’ve worked on for the last few days should be set on fire, it’s easy to want to give up. In my opinion, the most important part is where I remind myself that no matter what, I am going to be able to figure something out. I remember that something is going to come to me, I am going to move forward, I’m not going to allow myself to quit.
Honestly, the only reason that I get any of the artwork done is because of that mentality, no matter how much the art feels like it sucks, that I suck, or that I’m a horrible artist, I just keep going.
When I feel like I’m never going to make this thing work… I just keep going, knowing that it’s little tweaks here and little tweaks there. Sometimes it’s changing direction.
I allow myself to keep going because I believe that in some way shape or form, I am going to eventually get to the end where I make it work.
It is ultimately a collaborative experience between you and the art. The process is allowing yourself to make changes on the fly to allow the art to take form as it does.
The creative process in of itself is kind of like life, you get thrown some ups and downs, twists and turns, and you have to improvise. You have to keep moving forward in order to get to where it is that you want to get to. Even when there are obstacles and especially when things are not going your way.
The secret to creating anything as an artist is understanding that whatever it is that you’re working on, is not going to work out, it’s going to look like crap, it’s going to look like a big piece of garbage… and that’s ok.
Before it starts to look like the masterpiece, it is going to resemble a crap-turd.
In the podcast, Klee outlines three creative processes:
- You know what you’re going to create, or you have an idea of what you’re going to create, but you don’t have the steps to get there.
- You know what you’re going to create, and you have all the steps to get there.
- You have no idea what you’re going to create, and you have no steps to get there.
Each one of those has its value, but each and every single one of those still requires you to be flexible, and be really good to yourself in the creative process.
The fact of the matter is that when you are creating anything, whether you’re creating art, or you’re creating your life, you’re going to run into roadblocks.
You’re going to run into situations that are going to cause you to think that maybe you suck because the situation or the artwork that you’re creating sucks.
In those cases, the most important thing you can do is to remember your greatness.
Your greatness as an artist, your greatness as a human, your general compassion, your unique way of seeing the world, and your ability to pick yourself up after you fall.
Be good to yourself in those moments, because that is the only way that you’ll be able to take the next step and keep going.
I adore you!
You can listen to the full podcast here if you are interested.
