How do you create?

[moredhel]

In this thread I want to talk about how people create artwork. Mor the craft aspect than the art. I started a thread because it does not fit the art museum or the wip thread.

I'm just curious how do you do this? People seem to do it completely different than I do. E. g. I do not have any work in progress this is not how I work. If I am inspired I go completely maniac, gather huge ammounts of reference pictueres an than draw that thing. The only breaks are for eating, work, sleeping (my wife says not enough) and because of hand cramps. This can take a few days, but I do not stop before it feels finished.

Many people seem to do this differently. So how do you do this? How do you organize it? Is the process of creating itself scheduled when you do something?

[Jitter]

Fascinating topic, Moredhel! I have enjoyed the recent discussions about visual arts and learning them in various art threads!

A question: do you intend this particularly for visual arts such as drawing and painting, or any creative process? We have many writers here and I would suggest to include all of them into this discussion.

[Maglor]

Well, idk if my oppinion counts here, as it's not about drawing.
But basicly it starts with a wish.
If I have an idea for lyrics, I keep it in my head long enough to forget it. And if it's not forgotten by the end of a day, that means it's a good idea. And then the interesting stuff begins. I make up a few lines. Around them I build the general idea of how the lyric should sound like, what technical things I want there. Sometimes I feel like experimenting. Anyway after it's done, the boring part starts. Sometimes you have to waste about 30 min for one word. You gotta be strict and merciless to yourself, and wich is more important - to your creation. I'm usually not such a perfectionist, but when it comes to poetry it's everything or nothing.
Pretty same thing with Eng-Rus translations. When I want to translate from the other language, I have to find a good unrimed translation first.
Rus-Eng translations are the hardest part here.

[SkyWhalePod]

Ooh this is good, I'm eager to hear what people say.

I have a bad habit of putting off ideas until it feels like the Right Time to Explore Them -- which of course never comes, the inspiration just vanishes. So lately I've been trying to impulsively jump on inspiration the moment it comes and see what comes out of it. This applies to drawing, but also to writing scripts. I don't usually work on something for more than one sitting, and a sitting can last for a few hours but not more -- the stress of potentially not having something turn out right makes it hard to sit down and create in the first place, but the stress of *actually being able to see* if something didn't turn out right makes it super hard to come back and keep working after I put something down.

I'd like to be able to approach creating things in a new way, though, so I'm hoping that lots of people chime in here with their own processes.

[moredhel]

Fascinating topic, Moredhel! I have enjoyed the recent discussions about visual arts and learning them in various art threads!

A question: do you intend this particularly for visual arts such as drawing and painting, or any creative process? We have many writers here and I would suggest to include all of them into this discussion.

I would include every creative process. I think inspiration and to organize things are relevant for everyone creating anything.

[moredhel]

Ooh this is good, I'm eager to hear what people say.

I have a bad habit of putting off ideas until it feels like the Right Time to Explore Them

This is something I newer tried.

I don't usually work on something for more than one sitting, and a sitting can last for a few hours but not more

This is completely different from my habits, when I do it it does not matter if it takes minutest, hours or days.

-- the stress of potentially not having something turn out right makes it hard to sit down and create in the first place, but the stress of *actually being able to see* if something didn't turn out right makes it super hard to come back and keep working after I put something down.

I'd like to be able to approach creating things in a new way, though, so I'm hoping that lots of people chime in here with their own processes.

I'm hoping for that too.

[Opaque]

Maybe it's not how everyone starts things but usually the very first thing that happens when I want to draw something is I dream it. Like literally dream it. Afterward I would quickly scribble a rough sketch of that dream for later use. Or just day dream about scenarios and not draw anything at all then forget what you were just thinking about. I have the attention span of a goldfish.

[Sc0ut]

For me it really depends on what I'm creating (art is also my job),  whether there are any constraints such as a deadline or a certain style, and how I'm feeling at the moment.

Sometimes I do it in the way you described. That was certainly how I used to draw most of the time when I was younger and had all the freedom in the world and no standards to speak of Now I'm depressed a lot, I'm much more critical of my work, and other thoughts don't seem as willing to leave my mind, so I often have to force myself to sit down and draw. I generally listen to music or a podcast while I do it, and I always have multiple works in progress, some are several years old even.

I'm curious why you ask this

[moredhel]

Creating without some music to dim your mind to the right activity level would be hard I think.

I am asking this because I am curious. We do have a whole WIP thread and the last time I had something like this was in school when I was forced to paint things I did not want to paint, with a really hard medium (watercolor) on a really unsuitable paper. So I was puzzled how this can happen. People seem to do things different than I do. Maybe the other methods are better and I can learn something.
(I as a near to completely untaught creator I am sure there is a lot to learn).

And the other reason is the act of being inspired to create something is a topic I can nearly never talk to someone about. Even when it is described in a book and my wife reads the same book she does not get it. And I wonder if inspiration and creating works in a similar way for everyone or if there are completely different ways how this happens.

[Opaque]

Now I'm depressed a lot, I'm much more critical of my work, and other thoughts don't seem as willing to leave my mind, so I often have to force myself to sit down and draw.

Depression is an unfortunate reality of many artists. It's very difficult or impossible to force yourself to work on what you're passionate about when your mind says otherwise. Sometimes working on a little at a time helps get things done but it probably won't help you be less critical of your work. Which can cause burnout real quick. Taking a break from work and hobbies once in a while may help relax your mind but it can also become an excuse for procrastination.

[LooNEY_DAC]

* LooNEY_DAC creeps quietly out from under his rock

So, once again, I am weird, by which I mean that my creative style depends entirely on the medium in which I'm operating.

First, my filks: Either I read something that sounds just enough like a line of lyrics I'm familiar with, or I hear a song and switch the lyrics in my mind; in neither case is it particularly intentional.

Second, my fanfics: Several years ago now, I posted a ramble on things that I try to do with AUs to make them interesting beyond the "Wouldn't it be cool if..." where they tend to originate in my brain.

Third, my drawing-things (like the work from which I snipped my avatar): So, I can't really draw anything that's actually recognizable; what I can do is arrange geometric designs in weird and intricate patterns. For that, I start with a space and cut it into smaller and smaller pieces, then I look at a bunch of "stock forms" I have ready and decide what to put where, and in every case I've altered at least one of the figures so as to make it unique.

So, that's what I do.

* LooNEY_DAC dashes back beneath the rock

[Róisín]

I can’t art, though there are many wonderful artists among my family and friends. But I can visualise art and tell my concept in detail to somebody who can make it real. Some of the collaborations I have done on the forum with my poetry and the art of others have worked that way. Others have been done differently, with me writing around their art.

I’m better at three-dimensional stuff - woodwork, metalwork, leatherwork, hand sewing, even embroidery. And I can design gardens and arrange flowers. (One of my sons is an artist, farmer, musician and quite well known garden designer).

I can make stories and poetry well enough, but the process varies from just suddenly finding ‘something lying on the ground in the bottom of my mind’ whole and complete, to painstakingly constructing a structure word by word. Most often I start a poem with a word, a phrase, an image or a theme and work out from there. And I am very familiar with the process of constructing songs and poems within ancient traditional structures, where there is already an existing framework of traditional forms and phrases. I actually do that quite a lot for ceremonies and seasonal celebrations within the local Pagan community.

When I am writing factual articles, teaching outlines, essays, a lifetime’s worth of reports and technical articles or something like the cookery book I am currently working on, I start with chapter headings, an outline for each chapter, headings and subheadings by subject within the chapters, and within that arrange the information in paragraphs of related information. Whatever is relevant to what I am writing about.

[Yastreb]

I'm pretty much in Róisín's corner (except that I can't do 3-D art; these hands weren't made for it).

My writing topics often emerge from free association; take a topic and let my mind drift. As an example... many years ago, I was in the Dardanelles, visiting the Gallipoli Peninsula with an Australian War Memorial tour group. One day three of us were looking around the area near our hotel and found a pillbox dating from World War 2. Next to the pillbox was a small hollow, and in it were at least a dozen shoes, all for the left foot. We puzzled over that for a while before heading back, and on the way I began to work out the details for a Cult of the Left Foot, tossing out the ideas to my companions as we went.

Another source can be dreams. I'm a frequent vivid dreamer, and I keep a record of some of my more intense dreams, often reading the notes and reflecting on those to see what I can come up with. Several scenes in my Dragonhost stories have come from that process.

[Mirasol]

He, neat, I thought I was the only one using dreams as an inspiration. I write the ones with an interesting story down, and sometimes use aspects of it in actual stories I write. I only rarely turn them into art though, I feel like I can´t really put all the aspects in a picture. Plus, when I´m forgetting dreams, the visual parts are always the first to go.

Spoiler: art • show

How I do art is very dependant on the situation. Sometimes a full piece just jumps into my head and I need to draw it out right now, sometimes it´s just something vague that I still need to develop a clear image of before being able to draw it. Especially when I draw something comic-like, I need to overthink it several times before being able to put it on paper. I also have a folder full of reference-pictures for things I still want to draw at some point, that´s the source I draw from when direct inspiration isn´t there. But "think it through" isn´t necessarily "know every detail", I just need a frame I can then fill once I actually get to drawing.
But actually finishing something is a completely different question... If something is completable in one sitting and I don´t get interupted a lot (or sometimes I use drawing comic-panels as a way to "reward" myself for finishing school-work), it´s most likely going to get done. As soon as it takes several days, that gets a lot less likely... Unless there´s a deadline, that helps. I still try to at least keep on working on many things, by giving myself rules as "you work on this if you´re bored during school-breaks", or "You may start the next thing if you finish this one". Of course I could just accept that something I didn´t complete just wasn´t meant to be, but most of the time I do just really want to see what it becomes, or had a clear idea I just need to get out of my system, and will be bothered by the halfway-done thing for the rest of my life. Sometimes it´s enough to then just finish the storyboard or the sketch, that´s fine, in the end the idea is out of my head and I can see it. But sometimes I just need to see something through till the end.

Spoiler: writing • show

For stories, I have a similar approach. I jump at inspiration when I have it, or use prompts and themes to write around. The prompted stories are usually quite short, so relatively easy to complete for me, even if it takes several days. When there´s a theme to go by, it´s also quite sure to be finished... eventually. But fully original stories, especially long ones, tend to be stuck in writing for indefinite time. I never finished one of those, though I have several that are in production (I´m counting comics here too). Writing-inspiration usually hits me in the form of worldbuilding and characters. But unlike with drawing, you can´t just wing it from that point onwards. (as in, if you didn´t think of the colors to use in a drawing, you could technically blindly grab a few and make the best of it. But there´s no such auto-fill-helping-device for writing.) It needs a plot. And thought out details. And together with my less-than-helpful mindset of wanting to be surprised by my own ending and therefor not knowing where the story is going makes completing anything... difficult. I´m working on getting through that... I´m aware though that long stories will take a long time, so once again, it´s fine as long as I continue. And practicing getting things done with shorter stories is helping. I´m also working on a comic for myself where the point is to not plan far ahead, but think the story through in small segments so I can reach small goals in between that are both a safe starting-point if I continue or a possible ending-point if I don´t. Small, finished steps make it a lot easier for me to move forward than writing into a void. I think if I could apply that technique to a story where I can think of a climax to write towards, it would definitly help me to complete it.

So yeah, in short, I get inspiration quickly but have very little focus to keep working on something even if I have a lot of fun creating it, but am doing my best to change that or find ways to work around it. For the most part it´s getting better.

Phew, that was a wall of text... Sorry... ^^" I´ll put it under a spoiler.

[Songbird]

I'm very interested in how people write in special. The closest storytelling shape I know often hinges on a state of mind I can't achieve when writing. It could be just lack of practice, bad habits acting up, and the absence of reassuring role models to observe working and improving their craft in the same way one can do with drawing, but I mostly flail hopelessly for a while and let writing slip out of my schedule. :'D

I like to build things. I've got a wide range of skills up my jack-of-all-trades sleeve—woodworking, coding, sewing (...)—the creation aspect being the common thread uniting them all. It's not like I master any of these, they're just the intersection of need and thoroughly enjoying to learn something new. Most of these have a straightforward objective, I use them to solve daily issues and the way I create is similar to how I create a category of illustrations: A set of requirements and possible ways to accomplish them.

When it comes to illustrations the purpose alters the creation process.

- Works done in a professional capacity are first and foremost a list of words. I'll pluck dusty entries from my visual library that match the briefing (if any!), researching and chasing connected imagery around the internet, then I'll set about at mixing derivations into something that works.

- Idle works aren't as methodical. Those are the artworks done when I get the time and want to explore some small idea or aspect of something. There will often be a list of potential things to include, but there's freedom to play as well. Studies also belong to this category. I just go where I feel like going. It's fun!

- Then there's inspiration. I don't like very much to feel "inspired" to be honest. It's like getting possessed by an idea; an obsessive thought that springs up at me during downtime and when resting, and comes up when actively working on something else as well. It's there every time I let my guard down and look at the sides, annoying and making me restless. Sometimes I'll do spitpaints just to get rid of them.

Whatever the type of art I'm doing I tend to zone out like many of you, working in long stretches of hours compressed in "just more 5 minutes!", getting irritated at something mysterious until I realize I'm starving, listening to music to concentrate. I get grumpy at interruptions and I don't enjoy having people watch me work as well. It changes my posture to something stiffer leading to quicker hand pains. :<


The issue with writing is that I don't zone out. I'm fully conscious and painfully aware of every second invested. Somehow my mind decided it takes as much time to read what I wrote as it takes to write it... when I already know I tend to be long-winded. It's a mortifying thought I have no counter-argument to combat yet. "People can just gloss over or stop reading if they don't like it" or "It's not long-winded if it's engaging!" aren't enough. Deep down I know I likely need only a bit more confidence and to get used to the act of writing. And in case you're wondering about the formatting of this post, yes, it's to help people skip to the important bits if they want. Halp, I can't turn it off!

In any case to write I like to read a bit of something I wrote previously or another work in a similar voice to get the correct tone. I don't work out ideas actively when writing, I just let them rattle in my skull during the day then write down the little promising insights so I don't forget them. I don't wait for the perfect phrasing to come into mind otherwise I'll be forever staring at a blank page; I just start writing without being sure where I'm going and edit it into oblivion. This leads to a sentence or scene branching out into too many possible simultaneous outcomes though and I haven't learned how to deal with it yet. I like tightly woven stories so I do some sort of loose timeline-style outline beforehand to get this into mine, then I treat it as a guiding lampposts thing, not rules for the story I must obey.

I'm a latecomer still figuring it all. I was a young adult when I realized writing fantasy stories wasn't a career path reserved to foreigners from distant lands only, and by that time I was already too busy grappling with life to give as much love and time to writing as I could to art.