Intro
This is my attempt to answer the question I have been repeatedly asked over the years.
“How do you keep coming up with new ideas”
As I go along there will be additions and of course revisions.
Maybe this will never be finished, but for now here is where I will put my experiences with creativity.
Some people work best with methodologies and systems for creativity. Setting goals, times lines, organization, or a 5, or 8 step program.
These have never worked for me,
The best that I can offer is my experiences in coming up with new ideas.
Take what works for you and ignore the rest.
Get real about creativity.
The movie we see at the theater is the finished product and does not include the endless hours of film that were shot.
When I view a movie I “assume” that it was shot on a timeline and the movie was shot in sequence.
But my rational mind knows that the movie is a collection of shots that have been edited together.
If you have ever looked at the director’s comments on a DVD you may find that three evening scenes were done at the same time, although when viewed in the movie they are on three different nights.
In my work I may make ten different models before I find one that I feel is saleable. No one ever sees the nine that didn’t meet my expectations.
We can take an old idea and improve upon it or create something entirely new.
The wheel has been around for over 5000 years. One of the greatest of all inventions that touches every part of our lives. But it is only of interest when it became a cart, a chariot, a bicycle, an automobile or a skateboard.
For me, it may mean looking around for something I already have, and asking my self what could be added.
The first time I saw the internet it was green text on a black background. No photos! No graphics! Now look where it is.
When we look at movies, books, paintings, architecture, automobiles, photography, what we are seeing is the final product, not all the attempts that didn’t work out.
Being creative is exciting and rewarding, but it can also be very humbling.
A key element of being creative is the willingness to fail.
People are creating new art, new crafts and new products everyday. You can be one of them if you are willing to accept the challenge.
Getting Started
Some way or another we have to get started. There has to be some event that encourages us in one direction or another.
The best I can do is to provide a glimpse into how I got started in metal sculpture.
In 1967 I was in graduate school. My days were filled with seminars, research and, writing papers. I had this need to do something different. I wanted to work with my hands.
I took ceramic classes, some print making classes, then started working with wood. None of these filled the need. Then I got the idea I wanted an oxygen acetylene torch. After continually dragging my wife over to the tool section at Sears, I got one for my birthday.
I had no idea about what I was getting into. As always in my case, I thought I could figure that out as I went along.
At this point I didn’t know how to use an oxygen acetylene torch.
I didn’t know how to work with metal and I had no design experience. The only thing I did have was the desire to create something in metal.
I went from one bad experience to another. I won’t go into the stupid things I tried because it’s too embarrassing.
In time things got better, but not by much. The turn around came when I began doing some jewelry; clunky metal pendants. My wife was wearing one on a day she went to get her hair done. The owner of the beauty shop wanted to buy some for selling in her shop.
There is no greater reinforcement than someone wanting to put out their money for something that is the result of our hands and mind working together.
This was enough incentive to work on more designs. Using the analogy of a campfire, this started as a spark and developed on into a small flame, but not much more. Using my rational mind as opposed to my creative mind I knew that I couldn’t make much money doing things the way I was doing them.
What I did know at this point was that I liked working with metal and that this was something I wanted to do as a livelihood.
This led me into doing some wall sculptures. I had seen wall sculptures in furniture stores and felt that I could do something similar. Sales came in and this gave me incentive to try new designs and at the same time increased my self confidence.
What had started as painful incremental steps soon turned into a steady flow of creative ideas..
This all began with someone wanting to buy the clunky pendants.
Somewhere along the line we need to have an initial success to get the creative ball rolling.
I am not suggesting that anyone follow my path but one must find a way to move forward.
The Muses
In the ancient past there were the 9 goddesses that inspired creative works.
Unfortunately, the 9 goddesses don’t seem to be around any more.
However, there are many modern day muses; there are friends that inspire us, there are artistic designs every where we look. There are customers that like our work but want something just a little different which causes us to reach within ourselves for creative ideas. There are tools that enable us to expand out skill levels.
Walk down a city street and take in the architectural wonders. Look in shop windows and see all the products that have been created. Study the display windows and appreciate the creativeness that went into promoting products to there best advantage.
Everything we see is the result of someone taking that first step with the determination to start!
When I look at a tool catalog I may see a tool that causes me say to myself, “if I had that tool I could form copper this way”.
The same could be said for the writer and graphic artist related to the computer. If I had that software I could …………….
Someone gave me a bubble wand as a birthday gift. I appreciated the gift and the thought that went with it. A few days of looking at the bubble wand I decided that I could do much better. This began a whole new line of designs for Magic Wands.
The Gift
One of my designs
Mine is not better, it is just different.
This was one of the most profitable lines of metal work I have ever produced. In this case the Muse was the friend who gave me the bubble wand and the bubble wand itself.
Today we have the internet which has much to offer us artistically. We can discuss our work with other artists. We can learn new techniques on YouTube and elsewhere which enable us to move our work forward.
It then becomes choosing from the many ideas that cross our mind to settling down to the ideas we want to explore.
The incentive for money has often been my Muse. Making my full time income has led me in many directions I otherwise would not have gone.
Needing the money I have accepted special orders for pieces I had no experience in making.
These orders stretched me within my craft. Adding new techniques that have been useful in other projects. Also the creative aspect of coming up with tools, jigs and fixtures to complete a special project.
If I hadn’t needed the money these are skills and jig and fixtures I would have never discovered.
If it hadn’t been for the business aspect there is no doubt my creativity would have been far less than it has been.
These Muses will often give us ideas that aren’t related to what we are working on. Just guessing here, but maybe some part of our mind can see that we will need these ideas sometime in the future.
Maybe we will put an idea to work or maybe we won’t.
And speaking of that, keep a note pad handy and record ideas. I’ll often have an idea while driving and then later I can’t recall it.
In the chapter “Working Within Parameters” I talk about the scrap shapes I used when I first began. These shapes were my Muse. The shape itself gave me an idea of what I could do with that shape. As I welded these shapes together, new ideas emerged as what I could do next.
Looking at this scrap piece of copper gave me the idea for the sailboat earrings.
Muses are everywhere, we just have to be open to them.
Learning the Craft
Before we can even think about creativity we need to develop the basic skills of our craft. Whatever the craft, be it painting, drawing, graphic arts, photography, sculpture, wood working, jewelry, etc.
Learning the craft is an ongoing never ending process. The good news is that with just a few basic skills we can begin to create.
There are different ways of learning a craft and most specifically being taught or self taught.
Whatever skill or craft you want to learn there are classes available. This means that you will be taught the basics of the craft and later classes will take you into more detail and the finer points of the craft. In many ways this is the most economical in terms of time and money.
On the other hand, we can just go for it. Decide that you want to learn a craft and jump right in. Since you will be making mistakes that you wouldn’t be if you took the class, you will be spending more time and using up more material and buying some tools that that would not be recommended in a class.
As the two preceding paragraphs indicate, taking the class is the better way to go. However, I am the “jump in” person and much prefer to figure it out for myself. As I have often said, “if there is any advantage to being self taught it is that I know lot of things that don’t work”.
One can be creative while learning their craft. But it is much easier to learn the craft and then be creative. When you are in the process of learning your craft you will begin to get ideas.
The more you add to your skill the more ideas you will have.
I suggest to my customers that buy my Metal Sculpture Instructional DVDs is that they start by copying my designs. For example, this golf cart.
I can almost guarantee that by the time they make the fourth or fifth golf cart they will begin to see a change in the design. Their own ideas will come into play.
It is easy to have images in our mind of a design, but if we don’t have the skills this mental image will never become a reality.
What I can do with metal is a result of the skills that I have developed, my tools and the materials I have to work with.
It is not easy learn a craft and at the same time learn to design. In the above example, I’m suggesting to my customers; use my designs while they are learning the craft.
By craft I mean how to work with the tools and materials. How to incorporate the design you have in your mind, along with the tools and materials you have. If it’s woodworking, then how to work with different woods, saws, routers, glues, measurements etc. If it’s graphic arts, then learn how to use your graphic editing program.
If it is jewelry, go to a craft store and buy some basic materials and a few tools and see what you can come up with.
If you want to paint, buys some pencils and a sketch pad and begin sketching simple forms and see where this leads.
Take classes or jump right in.
Do whatever you have to do to get off ground zero.
Techniques for Creativity
Before we can start using a technique we need to have some idea of what we want to create.
My most general way of starting a new project is having a definite idea of how to get the picture in my mind into reality. My first attempt will usually show that there were several things I didn’t consider.
Attempt number two will be better but still not come up to my expectations. By the third attempt I may have a workable model in metal.
If this is a piece that I am going to produce repeatedly there will be continual refinements in the coming months and sometimes years.
Obviously, there are people who would have had all this worked out before they started. I applaud them but it just isn’t my style.
Let’s call the first attempt a series of mistakes. These mistakes give me direction. This direction give me a feeling of security. In a sense the first. second and third attempts are finding my way or more aptly put, “feeling my way”. Discovering what works and what doesn’t.
In a piece like this there are many elements and each one must be worked out.
Some of the elements have already been worked out in other pieces but some are specific to this barn.
When I did the first plow, the picture I had in my mind didn’t look right. I needed some help, so I turned to a 1907 reproduction of a Sears catalog.
The piece below is small. It’s about 5” tall and 4” wide. It has a lot of detail which must fit in proportionally and in keeping with the theme. For this piece I was able to draw on similar pieces I have done in the past.
Skills and Creativity go hand in hand. Skills are cumulative as in a skill learned on one piece can be used in another piece.
The fact that I am able to create this design gives me confidence in designing another piece in a similar vein. For example, I might decide to do a musical sculpture with a guitar, banjo or a violin.
Going back to the barn above, it’s helpful to know that a large piece is primarily made up of a number of small pieces. To make the barn structure is fairly easy. It is working out all the small detail pieces and their proportions that takes time and calls on my creativity.
Pressure: Sometimes I work well under pressure.
Several years ago I started to work on a design for pine trees. What I tried didn’t work out too well. This was a case where I was over confident and thought that I could whip out a good looking pine tree quickly.
I had an idea so I started and made some parts for the trees. I wasn’t happy with what I had come up with and decided since I didn’t have to make pine trees it was probably best to forget it.
Fast forward to the present. One of my DVD customers wanted to know if I had any videos on pine trees. Without too much thought I emailed him that I would see what I could come up with.
By saying that I would see what I could come up with I was putting some pressure on myself. I am pretty good at doing what I say I’ll do.
I tried a couple of new ideas which didn’t work. I dug out the parts that I had made and began in earnest to make a pine tree. First results were not too great. But, they gave me some place to make a new start. Finally they came together.
A key phrase here is “in earnest”. Until I make a earnest commitment, the chances of success are less than optimal.
None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for that little bit of pressure I put on myself. I had made a promise and I am good at coming through on promises.
Here is the progression on the pine tree:
1st attempt didn’t do it for me so I added a little green craft paint hoping that the paint would make a difference. It didn’t. Rather anemic.
2nd attempt I thought maybe if I would give the trunk of the tree a bit more form. Better, but not there yet.
3rd attempt: Trunk has more form but the tree is too short.
4th attempt: Maybe a different form on the copper. Trunk looks good, height is better but it doesn’t look like a pine tree.
All of this led to this:
Incubation.
Another technique I find that sometimes works is incubation. I have something to work out and try as I might I just can’t get it. At this point if I can forget about it and go on to something else, later the solution may pop up in my mind.
For some people, thinking about the problem just before they fall asleep works. When they wake up they may have the solution or at least an idea to take them one step forward.
My best example of this I’ve written about elsewhere, but it is worth repeating.
I was designing for a company and they wanted me to improve the shipping cartons for large wall sculptures. I spent days trying to come up with a solution. Nothing I tried was better than what we were using.
It was a year later and I had left the company and was working out of my own studio and shipping my work to stores. One morning I woke up at 2 AM and had the solution. The next morning I called the corrugated company and ordered the cartons.
Where did the idea come from? I have no idea. All I can say is that I had a problem and from somewhere came the solution.
There are several unfinished pieces that have been hanging in my shop for twenty years or more. Obviously the incubation technique is not working. What I think is happening here is that I don’t have enough of the desire to finish them.
Here is a quote that I often refer to:
W. H. Murray
The Scottish Himalayan Expedition
“Until one is committed
there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
there is one elementary truth,
the ignorance of which kills countless ideas
and splendid plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
that would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one’s favour all manner
of unforeseen incidents and meetings
and material assistance,
which no man could have dreamt
would come his way.
I have learned a deep respect
for one of Goethe’s couplets:
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”.
To be certain, there are techniques for coming up with new ideas. The only problem with techniques is that they sometimes don’t work.
We have all had the experience of cramming for an exam. Sometimes this works and sometime it doesn’t.
The approach which I find best is to have a number of techniques. When none of these works then it is best to hang it up and put creativity on hold.
I discuss this in this chapter: When Nothing Works
Building Confidence
Creative confidence can only come with creative successes. Which goes back to; “just start”. Creative success can only be born out of creative failures. Unless you are unusually lucky, there will be failure before you reach success.
It is just like when you learned how to ride a bike. You fell with your first attempt, and then the falls became less and less. In probably less than a day you can’t even imagine that you had never known how to ride a bike.
Another way to build confidence is to start remembering creative success you’ve had in your life. Here I am not talking about artistic creativity but everyday creativity. Look at challenges that you’ve had and the solutions you came up with to overcome those challenges.
Shake it up.
“Tomorrow is going to be just like yesterday unless we do something different”.
This is a quote that has often moved me to action. An easy way to make changes in your life is to take a day or two and observe yourself.
There are many everyday tasks that we do automatically. So automatically that we can’t even recall doing them.
Examples:
I put my right sock on first.
I put my right leg into my pants first.
I put my left arm into a shirt when putting it on.
I start my car and then put the seat belt on.
What happens if I change these? For example, put my left sock on first. Scientifically, these changes will create new pathways in my brain.
On a more basic level these changes will make us more aware. The more aware we are the more we are open to new insights and opportunities.
Another example: If you drive to work using the same route everyday try a new route. It may even take you longer, but you will drive through areas that are unfamiliar offering you new sights. You are driving through a new area, seeing different buildings, different gas stations, different restaurants, different supermarkets. It’s a new experience.
This is much like taking a vacation. Seeing new sights, new people, tasting unfamiliar food will give us new insights when we return to our familiar home and work. This is one of the reasons why vacations can be so invigorating.
You know yourself and your routine. What can you do that will shake up this routine. Routines in themselves are good. They are ways that we have found to be most efficient. But, are there other ways to accomplish the same goals? Maybe, maybe not, but you won’t know unless you try.
When you observe yourself, register whether it is the same old thing every day or are there new experiences. These new experiences don’t have to be gigantic blockbusters, but simple acts as putting on your shoes and socks.
If you change one small behavior and then add another behavior, these changes become cumulative until you can begin to see the changes in other areas of your life.
Exercises like the above are only of use if we put them to work for ourselves. If you observe your behaviors on Monday, make a change on Tuesday and go back to how you are used to on Wednesday you are not going to see any change.
The truth is that we do not like change. Life without change is comfortable. But life without change is boring.
Expanding our comfort zone can be uncomfortable but it can also lead us into a richer and more rewarding life.
Most of us can remember our first day at school. There was an uncomfortable few hours or days at most and we were rewarded with a new environment, new friends and new a new way of looking at the world.
Bottom line here is that we either will change some behaviors and expand our comfort zone or we won’t.
If you don’t like this approach, don’t fret, there are lots of other ways to expand your creativity.
Obstacles to Creativity
Obstacles to creativity might include not having the tools or the skills.
In my case there may be an idea that I have but I don’t have the skills that will enable me bring the idea into reality. For some ideas, I may be willing to learn the needed skills and for other ideas, the necessary skill is not something I want to pursue.
The new idea may require tools or a facility that I don’t have.
Moving beyond the above obstacles then there are personal obstacles.
The first obstacle is the inability to START. We can all find examples in our life where we either hesitated or refused to take the first step.
There is fear: “what if I can’t do this”? This falls under fear of failure. “Will this just be another failure”? “Do I need another failure in my life”?
Fear of criticism. I don’t know anybody that likes to be criticized.
“I told someone about this ideas and they said it will never work”.
For me the following is an important part of the creativity process.
A new idea is like an infant. An infant needs to be protected. It should not be exposed to a hostile environment.
Exposing your new ideas to those who are quick to criticize or tell you why it won’t work is to be avoided. Your new idea, just as an infant, needs an empowering environment.
I only share new ideas with people whose opinion I respect and I know will be supportive.
For whatever reason, there are people who thrive on telling others that the idea just won’t fly. If the world had listened to these people we would still be living in caves.
I tend to work on a new idea until I can see that it is beginning to look like what I had envisioned and then share it with a few people who I know will be honest and encouraging.
To be fair, there is constructive criticism and there are a few people whose opinion I trust.
But there are others who want to offer “constructive criticism” whose main objective is to have their voice heard. More often than not these are people who don’t do any creative work themselves but just stand back and make comments about other people’s work.
If you get the idea that I don’t think very highly of these people, you’re right.
One more obstacle: For 40 years I’ve made my living through metal sculpture so I am very conscious of material costs and labor hours.
Often when I begin a new design the time it takes me to build a piece for sale is far longer than the money I can sell it for.
To illustrate this point I’ll use this small bicycle. The time it took to make the first one made it far too expensive to put on the market. I made a fixture that holds the rods in place while I brazed them together. The handlebars were time consuming until I built a fixture that speeded up the forming.
By focusing in on the problem, I was able to streamline the assembly and this bicycle became one of the most profitable products I’ve ever come up with.
What I have learned is not to be too concerned about the profit but rather concentrate on the design and serendipity will step in and new ideas will begin to flow.
In the case of this bicycle, it’s a bicycle. There is nothing creative in the design. What is creative is how I have figured out ways to produce this bicycle that can sell for a marketable price.
It wasn’t much of stretch to add these pieces.
Think about this: Until I START, there is absolutely no reason for new ideas to unfold. If a Muse was standing beside me, there is no reason for them to give me further ideas until I START. It is only after I START that new ideas are even applicable.
To Start doesn’t always work. I have just spent over 30 hours trying to work out an idea using pewter. For the 30 hours I have invested I have nothing to show for it. Okay, maybe I know some ways that don’t work, but that’s about it.
Yet, there is something in the back of my mind that wants to give it another try.
Hoarding Ideas: Back in the 1970’s I was designing metal sculpture for a company. Knowing that I was going to be quitting in a few months, I started hoarding ideas. If I came up with a new idea which I thought I could use for my own personal use, I would keep it to myself.
All of a sudden I couldn’t think of anything new. I went completely blank for new ideas. For someone that didn’t have any problem coming up with new ideas it became embarrassing. After all, these people were paying me for new ideas.
I had no choice but to start using the designs I had been hoarding. As soon as I released my tight grasp on these hoarded ideas, new ideas once again started flowing.
From this I learned that the ideas that flow through my mind are not my ideas in the sense that I own them. They are universal and are free to anyone that wants to work with them. Since that time, I have been very free in giving ideas away. If I give an idea away two more ideas will flow into my mind. This never fails!
When Nothing Works
There may come a time when you have no new ideas. Scratch that, there will come a time!
This is opposed to when so many new ideas are flowing that you wish they would just stop.
You can use all the tools and techniques and still there is nothing.
This is the time to sharpen our tools.
This may mean cleaning up my work space.
If you do computer work it may mean organizing your files, or learning a new software program.
No matter the task, clean out closets, pay bills, answer emails, work on the blog or website – whatever.
Stop trying to come up with new ideas and start using the left side of your brain for practical application. This can free the right side of your brain to take a vacation.
A good balance is to have both sides of your brain working together. We couldn’t function without the rational part of our brain to make it through each day.
If I have been out of my workshop for a week or more, I’ll start doing some pieces that I know how to do. This tends to get me settled in.
There is something comforting about working with graphics or working on a website that is, to me, appealing. Everything is readily at hand. If I don’t know how to do some function of a software program I can go online and find the answer.
If I need software I can download it and begin using it. No matter what I need, the answer or solution is usually available.
The same with my workshop. The tools and materials are on hand. I don’t need to go anywhere to get something. In this environment there are example or memories of pieces I’ve created.
Even when I work in my shop everyday, I find that I need 15 minutes or a half hour to get settled in. I may find tools or materials that need to be put away. Once I’m settled in I am ready to work.
If there are no new ideas to work on I can do something that I already know how to do. Most often there is some techniques that has been in the back of my mind that I want to try.
As time passes I may come up with a creative idea or maybe not. If not, there are plenty of other things I can do. I know from experience that a new idea will pop up sooner or later.
If you can imagine, a line of new ideas flowing above your head. Reach up and grab one. Mentally take it down and examine it.
Some of them may be so far out to not be worth considering. That’s okay, wait till another one comes along an examine it.
For me, I might first run this through a filter. Is this piece saleable, or do I have the skills to pull this off, where would I sell this, who might be interested in a piece like this? Here I am using the rational side of my brain.
If the answer is no, then I will just wait for another idea.
For me, new ideas are exciting and at the same time can be frustrating.
I am excited because I can see in my mind what I want to create.
Frustrating because I can’t quite get the piece I am working on to match the picture I have in my mind.
Working Within Parameters
When I first started working with metal I would pick up any scraps that I could find. These scraps had shape and the shape would suggest different possibilities of how I could use the pieces. As I welded or brazed two pieces together, the resulting shape would give me some ideas for the next step. This is very similar to using the grain of the wood as a guide to design.
It was a big jolt to me the first time I was faced with a plain sheet of metal. There was no “shape” to guide me. It was rather like the difference between remodeling a house and building a house.
When I moved into selling my work the parameters began to multiply. The initial sales were made to furniture stores. I had six or seven designs that the sales reps would show to home accessory buyers. This meant that I no longer could use scraps. I needed a material source that I could depend on.
Since the sculptures had to be shipped to the furniture stores they needed to be packaged. I use to joke that I designed for United Parcel. United Parcel had a size limit of 184 inches. This was length and girth. The cartons I used were 48” in length, 24 “ wide and 6” deep. This meant that the sculptures had to be a bit less than 48” long and a bit less than 24” in height and less than 6” in depth.
Then the sale price of the sculpture became an issue. What price would be a competitive price? I needed so much to cover cost of labor, materials and profit. There was a percentage to be paid to the sales reps. To get the prices down to where they were competitive meant that I had to figure out the most efficient ways to produce the sculptures.
All of the above does not include learning how to photograph the work, laying out the photos and copy for brochures and hang tags.
Creatively, sometimes it was two steps forward and one step backward. But one creative success eventually leads to the next creative success.
When I first started I had no idea that I would become interested in fabric. What would someone who is interested in welding possibly have an interest in fabric? It was when I began photographing my work that fabric as a background became important.
I particularly like to use a hunter green velour fabric for my displays. Copper and brass show off well against this color and material It was when I photographed pieces against this background I discovered that the velour fabric sucked up all the light. The photos were dismal at best. So for photography I switched to a hunter green hard surface fabric.
I still don’t know a lot about fabrics, but through trial and error I have learned what works and what doesn’t.
Photographing my work has also led me into learning more about using digital cameras and lighting. No more shooting everything in Auto mode. I had to switch to manual mode and begin exploring the different settings.
This led to learning to work with Photoshop and other graphic software.
The whole point here is that what started out as wanting to make things out of metal expanded into a host of other areas.
To make all of this easier I could have hired a photographer, paid someone to package the sculptures for shipment, had a tool company make the jigs and fixture.
The truth is that I couldn’t afford to do that, and the result is that I creatively have come up with my own solutions.
As I’ve said over and over, “Skills are cumulative”. The skills I’ve learned to overcome these challenges have carried over to other areas of my work. Each new challenge that has been overcome leads to more self confidence.
To the point that I know that I can do it, the next step is “how do I do it”?
What I have done is not rocket science, it just the willingness to fail.
Hope for instant success but be prepared for some failures along the way.
Notes:
Function
Creek
Lifestyle
Learned from doing videos
Detective Di / Liangzhu Culture