How to stay creative (or restore creativity that you think you’ve lost) in time like this?

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S21FOLGORE

Well-known member
No doubt, this year (2020) has been very different and difficult for most everyone who lives on the surface of this planet.

So, at the end of the year, I wanted to post something constructive.

#1 Limitation can actually accelerate creativity
Obstacle can elevate the art


My biggest problem this year
Lack of free time

The year 2020, I had a whole lot less free time than before.
(And, I get physically tired. It’s not an option to cut down my (already short) sleeping time.)

The way I look at it …

“Limitations”, “Obstacles”, “Things you wish you had but you don’t”, can
enhance your creativity.


Example #1 : Frank Frazetta

about11.jpg


After his first major stroke around 1995 / 96, his right arm was paralyzed.
That wasn’t the end of the world, for him.
His answer to this, … was to train himself to draw / paint with his left hand.


franknight.jpg


Instead of saying / thinking “I don’t have this one, I don’t have that one …”,
You can try to do things differently, with what’s available to you.

#2 It is never too late to start …
<to be continued / I have to go to work now ...>
 
lizard

lizard

Well-known member
I didn’t know Frank had a stroke. Odd that is was his painting arm/hand. Reminds me of Giants pitcher Dave Dravecky who had his pitching arm amputated due to cancer.
 
Climber

Climber

Well-known member
Artists don't have their creative abilities contained in their hand or arm, it's in their brain. A true artist can create art with their feet, if they lose the ability to use their arms.
 
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Matty D

Well-known member
I can definitely see how obstacles can stimulate creativity - hardship can shock the system and create a desire to overcome difficulties, etc., that can be stronger than the feeling before the hardship.

That said, not sure I see the connection between this observation and your need for more free time...? Exploring a creative urge will usually take more of your time.
 
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greenmonster

Well-known member
Personally I’ve had more free time during the pandemic since I’m working from home and not spending 90 minutes commuting every day.
 
berth

berth

Well-known member
Climber said:
Artists don't have their creative abilities contained in their hand or arm, it's in their brain. A true artist can create art with their feet, if they lose the ability to use their arms.
Click to expand...

As demonstrated by the fact I have perfectly good hands and feet and can't draw a ticket from a sweepstakes drum.
 
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S21FOLGORE

Well-known member
(I really wanted to post some of my favorite piece of Frazetta art work, but,
I wasn’t sure if it’s okay to post them (the image that involves half naked women) ... so ... let’s just move onto the next part.)

#2 It is never too late to start

Yeah, whatever it is, (drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, photography, playing music, making Youtube video, knife making, ...) it is never too late to sart.

Example #2 Raymond Chandler

Chandler didn’t start writing professionally until he’s 44.

original-raymond-chandler-43-jpg-934f6a06.jpg


Never a prolific writer, he completed only seven novels (all of them Phillip Marlow’s stories), and some short stories and screen play.

If you have never read his book, you owe yourself to read at very least two of his work.

“The Long Goodbye”

“Farewell, My Lovely”

If you have never read his stuff, you may think it’s just another 1950s /60s hardboiled PI story.

It is not.

For example, I love Chandler, but I hate Spillane.
Because his idea of being a tough guy is a physically big man with a gun pushing people around.
Just insensitive and arrogant.
Perhaps, the biggest difference (between Chandler and Spillane) is sensitivity (or lack thereof).

Another keyword would be “sentimental”.

A man pours coffee and lit a cigarette, for a friend who just died in Mexico, brings them to the living room just like he saw this friend the last time.
Set them on table, wait until the coffee is cold, cigarette is burned out.
Then, empty the coffee in the sink, throw out the burned cigarette,
says goodbye.
Turned off the light, out of the room.

Beside “what Marlow” does, what really stands out is the style of writing.

“So passed a day in the life of a P.I. Not exactly a typical day but not totally untypical either. What makes a man stay in it nobody knows. “
(from “The long Goodbye”)


By the way, all Philip Marlow’s stories are written in first person narration, which is pretty common in this type of story.
(eg : The Maltese Falcon , Dashiell Hammett)
Technically, this style is called “first person limited point of view”.
It’s obviously first person because Marlow is “I” who’s telling the story, and it’s “limited” because Marlow doesn’t have access to the inner thoughts, feelings of other characters in the story. And he doesn’t know everything what’s going on around.

And, since we (reader) are in the Marlow’s head the entire time, we get to know his personality pretty well, which is a combination of being sarcastic, cynical, but sensitive and sentimental, a good observer, and a loner.
This is what makes Chandler stand out so much, as a detective story writer.



If you like writing, story telling (whether by word or visual), creating whatever, it is never too late to start.
(Private publishing is much easier and cost a whole lot less than the days of “printed on paper” days.
Amateur film makers now have the free platform such as Youtube, Vimeo, and there are a lot of affordable options regarding hardware.
)

Example #3 Vincent Van Gogh didn’t start drawing / painting until he’s 27 or 28.

Okay, this may not seem to be a good example, since his art work didn’t bring him the happiness while he’s alive.

But, that’s not the point of this post.

Take a look at this sketch ...

van-gogh-carpenter.jpg


... then, this...

Carpenter,-Seen-From-The-Back.jpg


<...to be continued...have to go to work...>
 
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