Front Line Creativity

I thought that for this blog that I would a little bit more about different types of creativity as I feel that I’ve only kept close to the kind of creativity that I’m involved with and wanted to stray from this and do some further exploring on the topic.

Shall I start with the obvious types that stem from the typical sort such as Art, Music and Drama which in most people’s opinion are the most creative, I would agree since creativity can be defined as “something new” which all those subject exhibit. New Art is made everyday which hasn’t been seen before, music gets made which hasn’t been heard before and films get made which haven’t been seen before. So what is my point?

Well creativity is also pinned down as “solving a problem” so does this also reach out to other topics such as Maths, Science and Medicine since they all solve problems albeit that those problems have cropped up time and time again only to be solved using the same creative solution. The question is that is that really even considered creativity since it isn’t something new, since there is already a solution to most problems in these fields. A mathematician is going to know that the answer to 10 + 10 will always equal 20 no matter how many times he repeats the problem, the solution is stable and never changing. Ask an artist to paint a flower everyday the outcome will constantly change as the solution is dependable on variables such as the artists ability, the mood, the atmosphere, the weather and lighting and on time. The point that I am trying to make is that as creativity is defined as being

• Something New
• Solving a problem

So if I’m looking at creativity in that light then isn’t only fair to say that anything has an air of creativity since it can be based on different variables and yet at the same time a stable solution to a problem. There are many problems that surround the topic creativity such as are we born creative? Can we be taught to be creative? Are people only creative in one aspect in their lives?

I do believe that people are born creative; everyone is creative however some are more liberal to how and where they apply their creativity in their lives. Life choices may shape how they choose to be creative but I do honestly believe that everyone is creative as is it evident in speech, letters, homes etc. However I do also think that once it goes past a certain point some people rely on so called “creative types” such as artist, writer, actors etc to be creative for them as they don’t believe that they a creative type themselves. I also believe that some people have better skills and are more suited to doing some things then other people are such as some people are more logical and practical minded and would make a much better scientist then say an actor and would probably enjoyed that type of field more. That is where that individual would spend his creativity, just because he isn’t in the typical “creative” field doesn’t mean that he isn’t creative.

The word creativity is derived from the word create so does this mean that people who create something new such as inventors, artists and writers are the only truly creative people? I surly doubt it, as I think that people that create are more “spontaneously” creative and that people that solve a problem with a creative solution are more “logically” creative. I imagine it that if it was a creative war then all the artists, poets, writers, actors, musicians and photographers would be at the front line taking the hits from the enemy as we are all on show displaying how creative we are and then just as we are about to get our asses kicked the cavalry ride in which are made up of Teachers, Scientists, Chefs and Programmers to save us as the enemy didn’t expect them (not sure why I decided to add this but just summarized what I was thinking about at the time.) . That probably made much more sense in my head then out in the open like this.

Anyway I thought I would leave some links on truly amazing creative things.
Proving that it is good to play with your food. Creating chocolate sculptures. Click here
Check Out this Nathan Sawaya's Lego Sculptures : Click here

Refrain from going to the water cooler..

Just a cool video on creativity which I thought I would share.
Makes a lot of good points, and has a great backing beat.

Just some quick links

Just thought that these might be useful to some people.

Since we are going to be tackling a group project soon I thought that this article would be fairly interesting as these students were going though a similar situation. Click Here

Since it is the new year, this articles gives some hints and tips for some resolutions regarding game design. Click here.

Something for the girls regarding the 360 and the male population. Click here.

Interesting and a rather bitchy post about game design, worth a read if you haven't got nothing better to do. Click here.

A great site for Art called Character designs, an Artists resource - don't really need to say much more. Click here.

A site which hosts monthly 3D competitions, worth a look. Click here.

Well that's about it, if I see anything else more interesting I'll be sure to post them.

Games – The ultimate in creativity?

I wonder how my life would have been in I never discovered games? I wouldn’t be University doing this particular course and perhaps many people would simply scoff at the sheer amount of hours that I’ve “wasted” playing games. Simply put if I was born say 15 years ago I wouldn’t of really had the opportunity to do what I’m doing now, I wouldn’t have been able to put my faith into a university course to teach me the fundamentals of game design.

Game design courses are becoming more and more popular across the county and more tailored courses and campuses are cropping up such as DigiPen, a campus dedicated to creative technology - http://www.digipen.edu/main/Main_Page . Since this a fairly new career the hardest part would perhaps be finding lecturers that have had enough experience in the field to teach young and new hopefuls.

Having is picking Game Design an easy career choice, is it taking the easy way out? Since doing art the attitude that I always received was that it was an easy choice after all drawing is surely easy, right? It’s not like I was doing “real” work such as maths and science. This attitude towards the creative industries in my school such as Art and Graphics ensured that so many students enrolled in those classes expecting an easy ride and once things got that bit harder stopped coming or simply dropped out. It exactly the same with this course I feel, the class started with about 48 and now we are down to just 30? I think that some people thought that they liked playing games and thought it would just been 3 years of doing just that. Once some people figured out that it was a bit harder then they expected they stopped coming.

Now this brings me off the point slightly and might sound a tad superficial but when having my hair cut at the hairdressers they always ask me the same questions, if I am going on holiday and What course I’m doing at University, and for some reason I never say Game Art Design since saying this it just brings a lot more questions and most people simply don’t know what the hell Game Art is. One of the girls thought it entailed making board games and stated that she loved monopoly.

For some reason saying that you’re doing Game Art doesn’t really get as much respect as say doing Graphics simply because it’s such a new course. People just think I’m just doing an “Arty” course, which obviously has no work and no deadlines, yeah right. It’s hard work and time consuming and not just an easy choice. I don’t think that anyone on this course has found it a cakewalk and if they have then they should already be in the industry.

When I look back at starting that god damn wheelie bin and how hard it seemed at the time and take a look at what I’m doing now in comparison then it brings this into perspective, at times I do wish we had a lot more input from the tutors to prepare us for the second year and third however it pushes me to learn it for myself. I just think that with the rise of popularity of gaming over the years that it should be a bit more recognised as a creative industry by now instead as the “fun, slacker choice”.

For example here is the infamous Westwood College advertisment, showing off their game design course in rather bad taste. It’s really badly acted too…just plain awful. LoL tighten up the GRAPHICS a little bit…because making games is just that easy don’t you know.

Game design should start being seen as an educational progress instead of just something recreational. Something that was interesting to read was this article on game courses, at least worth a good read

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/469/innovation_or_vocation_the_.php?page=2

Well this turned more into a rant then a post.

Creativity part 4

The question I wish to observe today is: do you have to be playful to be creative?

In theory I would answer yes, as there has to be some imagination and toying with ideas to produce something. However what can you really count as playfulness and creativity, or are the two terms so similar that they count as the same idea? Why is it that some adults become serious in all aspects in their lives whereas some do not? Has this got anything to do with creativity? Why am I asking so many questions?

As children we all play, children always do, it’s how they learn. Children mimic those around them and “play” at being those people such as doctors, mummy and daddy, cops and robbers etc. As a child I loved going to school, as all we would do is play games, finger-paint and do tons of arts and crafts and that all I pretty much remember about infant school. Being a kid is about as free as your ever going to get in terms of your mind and perception of oneself as all that your expected to do is bumble about being silly and constantly wanting to play.

I didn’t really like the academic side of things (mostly maths – can’t stand the subject, and everyone has calculators now anyway). I loved reading, writing and drawing always have done and hopefully always will do. So do I argue the fact that my personality was always playful and creative or do I argue that society and the people around me shaped it?

Research predicts that having large families might hinder creativity and playfulness at early ages, as children will be expected to be helpful around the house and could sense the stress of their parents and thus not be as willing to be as spontaneous. Well since I never was from a big family I don’t really know if this is true or not, but I was from a single parent family and I was always asked to do more around the house then my brother and I could always pick up when my mom was stressed or worried, which kind of kills any creative pursuits you want to do at the time.

Being a child you have more freedom, as there is no pressure, as soon as a child grasps that their actions will have long-term consequences such as exams, it will change the reality of the situation and start shaping the child long-term aspirations, influences and effect leisurely pursuits and career choices.

I was fortunate enough to live in a home where the pressure wasn’t as concentrated as perhaps other families, however since my brother was pretty much a drifter and didn’t particularly like studying it was left to me to do the family proud and go to university and get straight A’s, so no pressure there.

My belief that everyone does have a degree of playfulness and creativity, it might be shown in their sense of humour, their job or even in little doodles they do whilst taking notes from a lecturer. However it’s the real life constraints that are constantly hindering people from being more playful with thoughts like “ I can’t do that I have work tomorrow.” Or “ I can’t do that, the washing up needs to be done.” In the end it becomes so routine that they stop thinking of anything truly creative and just get on with real life. Once reality and pressure interfere then the expressiveness of the individual suffers. Sometimes it could be the opinion of oneself, such as doing something thought of as “unprofessional” and not wanting to get in trouble can stifle creativity and playfulness.

I think it is time to draw things to a close but first to end this self-debate with a conclusion. I think that all children are playful, it’s something you’re born with not made, however the choice to indulge in ones own creativity is affected by family, society and pressure. If discouraged at an early age then it might fade out however if encouraged with creative pursuits and pastimes then the level of creativity will grow as the individual explores their own imagination and what they can achieve with it. I like to think that happened with me since my dad wanted me to be a doctor yet since he didn’t live with me had had no influence with this ideal so I was left to my own devices and indulged in what I enjoyed. Hence why I’m on this course pursuing a creative career, with my playfulness and imagination still in tact.

The Golden Compass

A few friends and I watched the Golden Compass on Wednesday, so there might already be a few blog posts regarding this topic on other people’s blogs.

I was quite pleased going on a Wednesday since it wasn’t very busy and also I could use my trusty Orange Wednesdays ticket, which is two tickets for the price of one.

Another thing is that I have never read the book, I wanted to, I just never really got round to it. So unlike the others that were comparing the film to the book and parts that had been cut out, I was blissfully watching the film unaware of anything like this.

As far as the film goes I thought that it was quite enjoyable, the whole setting was really intriguing and creative, I loved the idea of the Daemons walking along side a human and if the human died the Daemon would explode into dust.

There were some really nice touches such as Marisa Coulter (played by Nicole Kidman) when she slaps her Daemon across the face and ends up with a slap mark on her own face, things like this made the universe seem more real.

The casting was very fitting, the adults did a superb job however the kids came across a bit flat, but kids in films aren’t known for great acting anyway. The lead Lyra Belacqua (played by Dakota Blue Richards) was well suited to the part but as mention was a bit flat in parts. Having Ian McKellen play Iorek Byrnison, the armoured bear felt a bit strange as though it didn’t quite fit, although he still played a very good part.

My view as a whole is that it truly is an enchanting film with some awesome creative ideas and scenes, the cast generally play the parts well, the cg in some parts is excellent but some times it did look a bit off and not quite right especially with the Daemons. I think if I had read the book then I would have been disappointed as everyone that had previously read the book were complaining that it didn’t match up to it. However the movie did reel me in to this fascinating universe so I will be buying the book shortly.

Creativity Week 3

Time to take another jab at all this creativity malarkey, I thought I would try and shed some light on what I consider my own unique creativity.

Truth is I’m not even sure what it is, I’m one of those people that are still desperately seeking it. I believe that my problem arises from my lack of self-confidence, so even if I do anything creative I tend to deny it and will continue to think of my work as a poor effort at best.

I never have been the most confident person, I find it difficult showing my work to other people and I find it hard to talk to people I don’t know. I constantly think of myself as screwed because in this industry I’m hindering myself by not showing my thoughts and being quiet. For some reason there is some sort of emotional blockade going on which stops me from voicing my opinion. I will often deny that I have anything to say which is often not the case, I want to voice my opinion, I want to tell you my ideas but I just haven’t figured out a way to do so. I am not a void of no emotion and no ideas.

So what the hell has this got to do with creativity, well I guess in a way everything, being creative and using different media to show my ideas is my way of telling everyone that there is something more to me, the thing if I can help it I wouldn’t show my work until it is completely perfect in my eyes not yours – which leads me onto my other creative problem.

Artists are their own worst critics and unfortunately this is all too true with me. Since I don’t think my work is good, I don’t think anyone else will, therefore I don’t show it. I always wait until last to show my work in group crits in art class and in 3D when going to lunch I always make sure that my Max work is not on display, just in case anyone would get a glimpse at it.

This lack of confidence in myself is a hinder to say the least, it is an automatic disadvantage, I never used to be like this, however I have never been around such creative peers before, so I do feel out of my league sometimes, but I guess that is the same with most in class.

My theory is it’s either sink or swim, I could be like a deer caught in headlights – to afraid to do anything or I could do something about it. Heck! I am trying but it never feels enough.

I often wonder if I have enough creativity to survive this industry, but at this rate I wonder if I’d even have the confidence to even get as far as getting into the industry.

Well this has by far got to the most emo post I think I’ve ever done, but I wanted to explain some things and get it out there I guess.

It least it has something to do with creativity…