It's bound to happen to you sooner or later... The creative juices just wont flow... Your driven to create, but you just don't know where to start. Or perhaps you just don't quite know what you want to create...
You see, your not alone. The fact is, every artist experiences a creative block at some time. But there are some simple tricks that you can employ to help the situation. Here is a list of useful advise for "Creative Block":
"Think Backwards" - Start with the end product you wish to create and work your way back to a starting point. This will allow you to study the individual processes require to get the product you want...
"Reduce the Clutter" - Get rid of all periferal distractions. Close your mail, web browser, messenger...etc. When a creative block happens, you need to focus more than ever. So make sure you purge anything that might disrupt your thought process...
"Ask a Non-Creative" - Sometime it helps to tap into the thoughts of someone who doesn't work with your medium. A regular, normal person who doesn't stay up to all hours of the night playing with 3D, Compositing...etc. You might just find that crucial inspitation you where looking for...
"Sketch Thumbnails" - Grab yourself a small Post-it pad and go to town. Sketch any ideas you have floating around that melon of yours. Just keep sketching, then once you have a pile of scribbles, lay them all out so you can study them all together. You will find that by doing this, you might find inspiration, often from a combination you can only see by doing it this way...
"Look to Similar Work" - If you know what you need to achieve, then turn to similar products and reverse engineer the process to find a starting point. Remember, there is nothing wrong with borrowing ideas as long as you give it your own spin and creative signature. This is an old-school theory and one which artists have turned to for centuries. It's the theft or direct copying of art which is frowned upon...
"Look to Other Mediums" - You can often find inspiration in areas other than your chosen field. Some examples could be comics, computer games, photography, art galleries...etc. The list is endless.
"Try To Do It Before You Know How" - Often it pays to just throw yourself into trying to achieve the product without planning the process out step-by-step. As long as you are aware that you will need to return to the start, you will have a greater understanding of the various techniques which need to be used and the order in which you will need to employ them...
"Don't Be Too Rigid" - Try to be flexable with your search for that next concept. It is only through flexibility, that you will find options and choices which weren't there to start with...
"Change Perspective" - What we perceive is directly related to our perspective... Try this little experiment; Grab a pen, look at it from the top. What do you see? Its a circle. Now look at it from the side. It's a pen. If the only perspective you were give was the top view, then you would not have been able to identify the pen. The idea is you should always try to change the way you look at things. It is the only way you will ever achieve a greater understanding of that thing...
"Focus On Solutions" - Always focus on solutions, not problems. It is an attitude thing. The more you focus on solutions, opportunities in other ares will present themselves...
I hope you find these points helpful. This list is by no way a definitive one and I welcome your own tips for "Creative Block", in the comments section below. You might actually have the exact advise which another CG Swot member might be looking for...
Zot.
