Creativity at work
polycounter lvl 18
I know we all have are ways of finding our iner creativity.
What do you do to help yourself visualize something your asked to make?
I often find myself running into brick walls where i can't visualize what it is I'm making so have a hard time making it.
What do you do when you run into this problem?
I know this will help a lot more people than just me.
What do you do to help yourself visualize something your asked to make?
I often find myself running into brick walls where i can't visualize what it is I'm making so have a hard time making it.
What do you do when you run into this problem?
I know this will help a lot more people than just me.
Replies
I know that for the most part, creativity for me follows a certain pattern.
Period Of Extreme Boredom, lasting more than 3 hours+Insomnia (usually caused by sudden, irrational paranoia, such as a sudden, dormant fear of rabbits re-awakening, leading to This
+ large amounts of caffeine to stem off sleep for another 2 hours or so.
This is the most common type, really. Often times, I'll find myself browsing the internet (usually these boards), or playing a game, and I will suddenly see a character, an object, or a style that I wish to replicate to my fullest ability. Sometimes, I'll spend 3 or so minutes on it before giving up out of frustration, usually costing me a pen. Sometimes, I'll spend hours developing a new style.
ADD in motion, I suppose.
Alright, I don't have a job, but generally speaking I just look at random stuff. Pictures of locations I haven't been to (most of the world) help a lot, because the variety of plants out thar is amazing. I've also taken to using that thing gauss was suggesting during the dom war where you do little thumbnails to get ideas. I've probably horribly abused the actual process, however. Lastly, you can always try describing the task in writing. Handwriting. Not typing it.
Inspiration folder.
Art books.
Talk to other co-workers about what they're working on.
My Process (for environments):
- Block out to get proportions and positioning of everything
- Screen capture
- Load Photoshop
- Paintover!
- Show Lead/Producer/AD
- Start new paintover :P
I find blocking out things to work really well for me, because you don't commit yourself to huge amounts of work for something that won't work gameplay wise even if it is visually stunning.
Look at a lot of reference!
But there are days (like today), where I'm feeling completely brain dead and can't come up with anything that looks rad. Days like this are for collision meshing
-caseyjones
Sometimes detatching yourself from your work is the best thing you can do. Lets you mull it over in your head at your own leasure.
When you do find some awesome art on the internet, print it out, and tack it up to your walls. If you can't do that, change your desktop often with good artwork. Seeing other peoples stuff can be inspiring. Also remember to look at real life for inspiration, rather than always to other artists.
You gotta mix things up. If you let your life become too routine, it's gonna sap your creative juices.
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I couldn't agree more. Get out and visit a place you haven't been. Visit it at a different time of day. Find a busy place with a lot of people and just people watch. Chances are if you hit a creative rut its because you have become too complacent. Get up, go to work, work, go home, eat, go to bed. Nothing robs my creativity more than sticking to the same old routine.
Make some time to be a kid again. Activate your hands with something other than a mouse. Seriously bust out the Legos and just build something. Buy some clay, crayons and just connect with a piece of yourself that isn't serious and intent on a banging out a product by a certain time.
Chances are if you aren't doing much more with your hands than typing, mousing and slobbing your nob, your body could be stuck in a routine just as much as your mind. Exercise, going for a walk, boxing, join a rec league, all good ways to wake up different parts of your brain. How are you going to make a good battle crazed warrior if you can't remember the last time you took a knock to the head or stirred those types of emotions up.
Music. If your struggling with visualizing something try to find some music that fits that object/person/place.
You gotta mix things up. If you let your life become too routine, it's gonna sap your creative juices
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For me, that's one of the single most important things to staying alert and rejuvenating creativity. I exercise as often as possible: gym (treadmill/bike/rowing), racquetball, and soccer (rec league and play in pickup games on the weekend).
Random vacations or day-trips are always fun. Wake up early and pick a direction and see what you can find. Girlfriend and I are headed to Vancouver this weekend. It wasn't planned far ahead, just got a good price for a hotel and the decision was made to go.
Another company where a friend of mine works has daily ultimate frisbee games in the evening. Sometimes seeing co-workers in a different environment can help a lot.
I work an illustration job, so scribbling helps to get warmed up and find shapes and ideas rather than forcing them out.
Digging into the written description of whatever I'm working on and really considering how and why something functions or the way it is built is a good way to get the ideas going. Relating ideas from various sources and working them into your art is a good way to seem creative.