creative process « Outhouse Studios Weblog

Posts Tagged ‘creative process’

Painting the Scene a New Day

Tuesday, May 9th, 2006

Tackling same problem, interpreting the world differently

Day Scene – digital painting – 2006 – Dan Beck

I think I was just saying how I always want to do something new. Tackling the same problem, but solving it in a new way is what I think the creative process is about.

There are many solutions and many paths and the viewpoint from being creative is taking the different paths – savoring the trip – and interpreting the world a new way each time and as a result of the journey.

The road I live on is winding. There are hills with fields, in front of hills with fields – and down to the right most recently was a crew harvesting strawberries – slowly, painstakingly, harvesting – I know this not because I saw it, but because it has been so wet.

After the fields have been harvested, there is a sea of fruit in between the rows. When you drive by fast, their work does not appear tedious, if it even appears at all.

Art and Jazz Overlap

Monday, May 1st, 2006

Musical conversations are portrayed visually

All That Jazz – digital painting – 2006 – Dan Beck

I love music – if you’ve been on my site, you might have noticed, I write music and play a number of instruments.

There are many similarities in the creative processes for music and for art. They are there even when one is not taking on such an obvious reference to the other – as in the above.

When I created the above piece, I put on some jazz and referenced instruments I was hearing and the kind of interplay that the instruments might have. I could probably make it out to be more thoughtful than it was – but in truth I didn’t think that much.

Having said that, I am well aware of my own education in jazz and music. Improvisational music is a conversation – not an idea I invented – but it is. The vocabulary changes with musician and background – but it is about listening, conversing and offers one’s take or perspective.

As a brand new piece – All That Jazz has not yet been set up with a way to purchase the original art prints – please send inquiries to specialorders@outhousestudios.net .

On Being Creative: #7

Saturday, April 15th, 2006

Savor the creative process – enjoyment comes through

Process tired My Series 12

Full article is available as Free Download at outhousestudios.net. – for it is the process which is reflected in the final work anyway.

Savor the creative process: if you enjoy the process it comes through, if it is tedious and tired, that also comes through. Not all creative endeavors will come out to be something you want to keep – but the process will stay with you no matter how the outcome is.

There are many folks who feel that this is the principal in life – that it is the path and the growth which matter; the rewards are simply gratuitous.

What a great word "savor" is – savor food, creative process, life itself. In the above works, Process was about a new technique I was playing with, tired was what I was and quit – but liked the piece where I had stopped, and My Series 12 just looks like I was having fun.

Just by having our attention elsewhere, it is sadly, too easy to not savor … life.

On Being Creative: #6

Thursday, April 13th, 2006

Keep Moving to stay in the Creative Flow

Irrigate 2 Field 2 Mount Beyond the Ivy Fence

The entire PDF document "On Being Creative" can be downloaded free at outhousestudios.net.

Keep Moving – If you find yourself stuck in a certain area, try not to languish over it. Move on to an area you can work on and come back to it.

There is a flow to creating and one needs to stay inside that flow, or the process and the creativity bog down.

Those trouble spots tend to get solved easier as the other parts come into being. Sometimes they even gracefully eliminate themselves.

I can’t say that I remember getting stuck in any of the above pieces, though I am not immune. And it is common for anyone creating to step back, give the work some time, and come back to it fresh.

The concept of keeping moving is more about not working something over and over and over trying to get it just so … and becoming frustrated. Frustration, though not uncommon in the creative process, is not the ideal creative partner.

On Being Creative: #4

Friday, April 7th, 2006

Be childlike and relish the process of creating

Fifth-focus Experiment-on-Black Quick-draw

Approach your work like a child.

As trite and overworked as the expression is, it is important to not be judging while one is creating and enjoy the play of sound or color, etc.

When a child sits down at the piano, he is enamored with the sound he can make; or if painting – the colors he can impart.

Therefore, don’t critique any more than absolutely necessary, but be entertained by the creative process itself and relish the color, relish the sound, relish the movement, or relish
the words.

The thumbnails above are to works created when I first started painting on the computer. I had no expectations, no knowledge of how to control the color opacity or tone; but I did have the joy of creating like a child might … for the first time.

On Being Creative: #2

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006

Less choice can yield more creative results

Black & White Vision – Digital Painting – example of creating with less

Below is the second tip from an article available in full at Outhouses Studios through Free Downloads

Make do with what you have -

it is a very creative process – “necessity is the mother of invention”.

Take for instance the meals we are forced to come up with when we are pretty much out of food in the house. Whether they come out or not, they are creative.

The lack of choices can force us into ways of combining things which we would not consider otherwise. This can be a valuable ally in creating new works.

Like the previous tip, this is a variation on limits being valuable. Sadly, as much as I believe in options; too many choices can be just that – too many choices.

Logo Prerogative | Chance Impression

Friday, March 31st, 2006

Change for Quick Impression and Random Linking

The unpronounced logo

Gallery Chance

Original Outhouse Studios Logo
Original Logo found in Galleries

Once again I have mucked with the logos found at Outhouse Studios, I pulled the old faithful off the main page and replaced it with my newest colorful animated version and then added a mini-version of the original logo (above).

For fun I made that a link that when clicked on leads to one of the galleries randomly – for those who can’t or don’t want to decide where they want to go. You need to go to the site to try it.

Logos are actually fascinating – at best they can capture the essence of a business/group etc. with just an image … and achieve recognition quickly.

Usually that happens because we see it over and over again. So having had that concept placed clearly into my head recently, I decided I would leave my logo well enough alone – even though I thought it time for a change and time to do better. That was then… March 9, 10, 13

So part of the creative process is about changing one’s mind – opting to move in a direction that isn’t safe or traditional.

There is a logo game at outhouse studios that may for all I know continue, but it is all about making the right impression quickly. It is amazing how quickly one can look at a site(sight) and move on.

Last Logo Look

Monday, March 13th, 2006

Transparency, Animation, Fun, Overdoing It

See Animated Examples

The final thing about the logo development process and how it relates to the creative process is about using tools.

The fact is – learning how to do something – particularly when one gets to the point of feeling some success – is a great deal of fun. That stage of developing a technique or way of doing something which works is incredible.

There is a balance always in creating between doing what is fun and doing what is best for the piece.

The animation I created on the original logo came out exactly as I conceived … but it didn’t add a thing to my site – I put it on the above linking page – just because it is a record – like the thrown out Free download logo which also resides on that page.

I am not a graphic arts expert. Creating images without any background (transparencies) was incredibly cool to me – so much that I was overdoing it – which is the same for animation – which I have done a whopping four times.

It is a lot of fun to create these things – irresistible even. This is what one should have while doing art work – creating music – approaching any sort of job one loves. But one still needs to temper that fun with taste and perhaps discretion.

On the other hand, even if you don’t resist the fun of a new technique or process; eventually one recognizes its overuse anyway.

Logo Again

Thursday, March 9th, 2006

Conception, Development, Change

Original Logo/Flag – Animated Version(not in use)

In January I wrote an article on a new logo and look for Outhouse Studios. However, since writing that three things happened.

First, there were some conception problems with the then chosen logo. At least one person I know didn’t read the notes coming out of the house as being music – and even the structure itself was rather truncated. Nevertheless, I had thought it clear enough and more indicative of what the website is about. See the more filled in animated version

Second, I recently attended a talk on branding and one of the things which came up was how logos should be held on to and held on to as long as a company can. It takes a long time to develop the relationship between logo and product – so don’t change your logo flippantly.

My site and logo have only been around a couple years – I never really viewed my logo as much as a logo as a flag or emblem – marking the page and setting a tone. But the truth is, I like that tone better than the replacement logo. So I changed it back.

There is more to the logo story and a connection to the creative process – but will have to be continued over the next couple days in the next couple of articles.

Finished Digital Painting

Sunday, February 26th, 2006

Final Path Taken, Technique & Subject Matter

Click for Enlargement – Horizon 4 – Digital Painting 2006

If one looks at the previous sequence of images (below or Part 1, Part 2)of this piece unfinished, there is a more complete story than just the finished piece. Of course, the point of this series is that there is always such a tale of different directions in any piece.

Part of the creative process is the act of choosing what path or route to take. For me working in this digital painting medium, there are many different techniques at my disposal – just like with a more physical style of painting.

The fun, the challenge, the intrigue of the process is bound up with problem solving and choosing and developing techniques. Even if the finished piece is to represent nothing more than the finished piece itself – there are choices about how to create or represent the image.

In this particular case, the final choice to add field workers was the final choice – I didn’t know I needed or wanted them until I got to the final stage. I do feel it gives the piece that extra something it needed, but the scene I basically sketched in is also very much around these days – workers milling around – squatting, sitting, weeding and stripping the immature berries for better production later

- at least that is what I think they are doing. As you can see from the painting, they are not all that close.

Outhouse Studios Weblog

Posts Tagged ‘creative process’

Painting the Scene a New Day

Tackling same problem, interpreting the world differently

See Also

Art and Jazz Overlap

Musical conversations are portrayed visually

See Also

On Being Creative: #7

Savor the creative process – enjoyment comes through

See Also

On Being Creative: #6

Keep Moving to stay in the Creative Flow

See Also

On Being Creative: #4

Be childlike and relish the process of creating

See Also

On Being Creative: #2

Less choice can yield more creative results

See Also

Logo Prerogative | Chance Impression

Change for Quick Impression and Random Linking

See Also

Last Logo Look

Transparency, Animation, Fun, Overdoing It

See Also

Logo Again

Conception, Development, Change

See Also

Finished Digital Painting

Final Path Taken, Technique & Subject Matter

See Also

OuthouseStudios|Blog Home

Categories

Archives

Tag cloud

Meta