Do you share your creative process – Part 1
Sharing your creative process in the social media space is one of my biggest keys to success. This is not only truthful for people that are making physical things, but also for businesses working on new projects. Recently, I polled a few of my creative friends to tell me why they thought it was important to share their creative process with others. What is the benefit to the creator? and what is the benefit to those consuming the content? I received answers from a lot of people, but Lisa Stewart aka ECStewart really got into the questions posed to her. I decided to give Lisa the stage here and include all of her thoughts and answers because they were so valuable. Here is what Lisa had to say:
I believe creativity is just as intrinsic as eating, breathing, and procreating. When I hear people say, “Oh, I’m not creative.” I passionately reply, “Yes you are.” Creativity is innate, otherwise as a higher level species, we wouldn’t be here today. Creativity is the ability to continuously make decisions on the fly while in the moment. Whether I volley ideas back and forth with Andrew during a project, en route to the grocery store, or over a glass of wine, it’s a cerebral tickle that needs to be fed.
Curiosity
My natural curiosity leads me to open myself to other cultures. When I expose myself to a variety of experiences (academic, corporate USA, freelancing, galleries, museums, non-profits, travelling, volunteering), I try to remain objective, shaking off any preconceived ideas or influences in order to understand the authentic core.
4 Stages of Creativity Augmented by my personal philosophy:
Preparation/Investigation – Natural curiosity coupled with the importance of research aids in me this stage.
Design/Illustrate – Applying different perspectives (ant’s eye view, birds’ eye view, underwater, straight on), color, defining purpose, all provide me the fundamentals for exploring opportunities and solutions.
Incubation/Illumination – Walk away. Take a shower. Play a round of golf. Do something extremely different that exercises a different part of your brain. As soon as I shower, I realize that I’m more concerned about rinsing the soap out of my hair than I am about whether the color blue
I’ve chosen for my painting is the right shade. At this point, usually the ‘Aha’ moment hits
and I am able to return to adjust the design components to make a better product. Design and Incubation cycle back and forth until I have achieved a point of confidence in the solution.
Verification/Finalize – This is where the final stage of design and output happen for presentation.
Sharing Creative Process
Sharing allows me to dissolve the myth that creativity isn’t about alchemy “Creativity is a process” With every process there’s a if/then clause. Replacing the perceived alchemy of creativity with process doesnʼt seem so scary. The ability to reduce the process of creativity into bite-sized tasks takes the pressure off and allows me to check my ego at the door. Sharing makes good ideas better. I’ve learned not to fall in love with my own work or my own ideas. I have fallen madly, deeply, and passionately in love with the process of sharing. The pure act of sharing idea volley is electric to me. Kinetic. There are very few people with whom I am able to do this and constantly seek others who really dig the same act of back and forth.
Sharing the creative process, say, with something that I’m meeting on for the first time (tile ceramic class), I take the liberty of infusing my progress with ultimately raw perspective. I’ll unabashedly show you the shaky hand result that is the antithesis of my final work because I’m learning to work with a new material. I’m confident of my learning and know that my work will only get better, so I’m not filled with trepidation when revealing some of the most shocking and humorous results of my first attempts.
Physical Manifestation of Creativity & Sharing
It’s not uncommon for me to get physically excited about possibility; I start shouting out ideas like a Jeopardy contestant. Fellow students in my ceramics class witnessed this last Saturday. When I get stymied on a project, I get physically active. I dance in place to dislodge any idea wedgies hampering me.
Sharing is a natural part of who I am. I believe sharing is another word for complement. I say, “This is what I know, I think you should know it, too. Hear it, consider it, implement it if you want.”After years of learning my craft and all the supporting tasks as a entrepreneur, I feel confident in my ability because of the mistakes I’ve made. My ability to redesign my outlook if one solution doesn’t work makes me a better problem solver. This is why I’ve learned to develop at least 3 solutions to one challenge and continue to solve in the background while working if the first 3 don’t hit the mark. I want to share my knowledge because I want to see people succeed. The reason I continue to feed people w/tips, how-tos, and you-shoulds, is because I see that they’re about to learn it anyway (the hardway) and I just want to save them some steps, or they may be stymied by inertia caused by lack of resources. I know what works for me and what doesn’t and keeping a myriad of alternatives in my back pocket helps when life throws wildcards my way. Someone may not implement my methods or processes, but at least this gives them a
springboard from which to jump into their own pool of ideas. If that begins a discussion,
I’m all for it because then I can continue learning and generate more ideas that lurk in
the dark recesses which need to get out.
Paradigm Shift
On one of my first dates with Andrew, we went to a Staton McDonald-Wright exhibit. As
we were walking thru, allowing our eyes to absorb the melody of color, we overtly had
what I call, “A simultaneous paradigm shift.” We both stopped, straightened up,
abandoning our public flirting, and concurrently cood, “Wooooooow! I see it! What an
awesome composition of undulating and pulsating color and rhythm.”
Moving from physical manifestation to emotional manifestation is not uncommon for me.
If you ever see me in public, you may just see a creativity jig happen before your very
eyes.
Creativity Happens!
You can see Lisa “EC” Stewarts work on her website. Please leave comments here or feel free to get in direct contact with Lisa or myself if you have any thoughts or questions. Stay tuned or subscribe to the blog for Part 2
Keith Burtis is a social media and digital marketing professional. If you or your company are looking to REV THE ENGINE on your digital efforts contact Keith today! Specialties include: Blog design/Integration, Custom Facebook Pages, Social, Digital and Interactive Content strategies.
Wow! Thank you so much, Keith! I’m honored to have the spotlight here!!
I do hope this alleviates any performance anxiety other’s might have about creativity.