Mar 4th 1-2-3: Create A Lot Of Art
1: Create A Lot Of Art ( 2 minute read )
Consuming a lot of art to build out your referential library will only be of as much use, as you also create a lot of art.
It’s like learning all the ins and outs of music theory, but never experimenting on how to actually apply all that theory in a way that speaks. You’ll never find your voice if you don’t work out how to apply what you study. One of the biggest parts to creating great art is to actually ‘create’ art.
Whether it’s just for you, or you end up releasing your art to the public, you MUST create.
Record down what you create.
Make the ‘rough sketches’ of your ideas, and always approach this part of the process with a ‘breadcrumbed’ mindset.
What do I mean by ‘breadcrumbed’ mindset?
Consider the key frame moments that initially evoked a certain artistic train of thought, and make sure you get those moments recorded down. Make sure they are written down in a way that will jut your mind right back onto the train of thought you were on when you initially ‘felt’ something from it. If you can’t identify any ‘key frame’ moments in a particular idea, record the idea anyway.
When I use the term ‘record’ what I mean is to take an idea from an intangible moment you are experiencing in that moment, to a tangible, documented thought that you can show someone.
For musicians that would literally be the act of recording an idea down, for an illustrator that would quite literally be drawing a rough sketch of the idea, for a writer it would probably be something like writing down a few sentences of the general idea of a plot or umbrella plot.
Doing this, even though they may be ‘incomplete thoughts’, is the act of ‘creating art’; incomplete as it may be, it exists and can be referenced and used in the future.
You create a lot of art to get the bad ones out.
You create a lot of art to find the great ones.
You create a lot of art so that you can see how far you’ve come.
Working to create a large library of your own works will become its own, much more resonant and personal, referential library. You can analyze the parts of it that worked and why. You can take the parts that were horrible failures, analyzing why it didn’t work and why. All the while, you are learning from your own voice while also developing your own voice.
An idea not recorded is not worth much to you, but an idea recorded is art that you created.
Do this in mass.
Here’s an in-short summary of this idea of ‘Creating Art in Mass’
‘Creating’ art is ‘recording’ art
Create a lot of art to begin building out your own personal library of works to reference.
Reference your work to see what worked and why
Reference your work to see what didn’t work and why
Reference your work to see how far you’ve come.
Reference your work to begin identifying your own artistic ‘voice’.
Creating a library of your own works gets you closer to the great works you have inside of you.
Next week is Step 3, where I’ll go over the concept of throwing out art.
Though I recognize how that may initially seem contradictory to today‘s entry, I can assure you there is a bit of nuance to what I actually mean by ‘throwing away art’.
But until then,
Go create art, and make something uniquely YOU!
2: Creative Prompts From Us (ex. Write a short story, a poem, a song, or draw a quick illustration of these! Let your imagination run free.)
I. Begin recording down your art, and if you’ve already begun doing this then continue doing so everyday. Give yourself one month and see how much you’ve created by the end.
II. After that month, parse through your recorded works. Find the roughest ideas, and begin deconstructing why it didn’t work. Try again and consider the pitfalls this second attempt.
3: Inspirational Quotes From Others
I. “Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed.”
-Ray Bradbury, American Author and Screenwriter
II. “Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper.”
-David Lynch, American Filmmaker
III. “You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.”
-Austin Kleon, Author of ‘Steal Like an Artist’
Thank you so much for reading!