blogging

I’m in a Creative Block

Image result for creative block book
@amazon

Hello to all my fellow artists and designers out there who seem to be struggling right now. I feel you, and I know your frustration. Even though I’m still in school, I worked in the industry for 6 months last year, and day in, day out, I could feel the artistic part of me shrinking. It’s the strangest feeling – being required to make things, when all the creative juice has been sucked out of you.

Creative block seems to come at the most inopportune times. It’s funny how that always works, right? I have a few fantastic projects to work on for a few classes, and yet, I’ve been struggling to even blog a few hundred words each day. For someone who isn’t in the art world, it might sound like a total cop-out. Believe me, I’ve heard people use the “I’m just not feeling it today” excuse a few too many times to sympathize anymore.

But, quite honestly, I can’t think of many other industries that struggle with this. Sure, science has its research and big ideas; like math though, there is usually an answer that works, and an answer that doesn’t.

Art is different. There is a famous quote from Chuck Close that states:

Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you.

Now, artists can agree with this to some extent. And other times, it seems like our brain wiring lost a connection and nothing works up there. I am not even trying to be dramatic for effect here.

So, where do we go from here? I have no idea, hence my current liminal mental state. I started doing research earlier today, seeing if I could seek out some tools; seeing if there was a hypothetic/figurative chisel I could buy, that would chip away at this impermeable crust that is currently holding my brain captive.

Well, I came across a few pieces of advice (and the book shown above that I definitely need to purchase in the future) that stuck with me. Now, who knows if these will unlock anything, but if you see me posting consistently again, you’ll know something go knocked loose. Here’s what I found:

1. Make for the sake of making, without regard to a finish or outcome.

2. Go outside and take a walk; purposefully look for new things you haven’t noticed in your environment before.

3. Work on something besides art. Put it out of your mind for a bit, and be productive with errands, laundry, or cooking.

4. Read or watch something new. Sounds simple, but you never know what idea will spark you in a creative way.

5. Listen to music with headphones on. Block out the world, and your thoughts too.

6. Make something crappy. Throw it out. Repeat.

Most of the above ideas were taken from this article. I hope this helps even one person besides myself. Tomorrow is a new day, with a fresh start, and an open mind. Let’s get creating.

Meta-Blog:

@domoa

A blog referencing another blog.

If you had told me a few years ago – months even – that I would have a blog in the future, I would’ve laughed hysterically. Not at you. Believe me, that humor would’ve been pointed directly back to me. I don’t find myself, let alone what I say, interesting enough to Blog about. If it hadn’t been for this assignment, I don’t think I would ever pick up something like this. And I haven’t hated it. Honest.

It’s funny too, because blogs have been something I’ve avidly followed for years. They transcend genres, people, cultures, languages, etc. And the few I do follow now, are purely visual; the ability to do that with just pictures, is crazy.

I’m featuring one today. Domo-A. It bugged me when I first saw the title. It reads: Domo-A Inspiration Blog. The grammar nerd inside me was like, “Sydney, you can’t follow a person who doesn’t even know how to use ‘a’ and ‘an’ properly.” Turns out, the handle is just Domo-A. And turns out, I’m the daft one.

I digress. This blog features a seemingly endless stream of print and web graphic design. And graphics being the first thing I studied at art college, it holds a special place in my heart. I only studied in the program for a year before I switched majors into industrial design. But, it’s one of those areas of focus in the art and design world that still captivates me.

Almost everyone (I say everyone, because my college is my own little microcosm) tends to say graphic design is the easy form of design. But when non-graphic designers have to do graphics…Lord give me strength.

I find myself judging? (I can’t find the right word here) other artists, thinking I can do the same or even better. So it’d be hypocritical of me to say I’m different. But, graphic design is one of those mediums that can’t be duplicated easily. And I wish people could realize that.

Even if it’s minimalistic, the ability to see form, negative space, typography, etc. is a talent. Each artist and designer should be given credit for their studies and work. It’s something I’m going to have to work on. I would’ve lost the bet that wagered on me having a blog. And look where I am now – typing away.

If you don’t have any blogs on your heavy rotation, I highly recommend finding a few. If they’re all extremely different, even better. I’m not putting my blog into the category of successful ones by any means. Now I know how difficult and mentally challenging it is. Check out a few of my favorites:

Lemanoosh. PassanaPassa. Windows of New York. Plenty of Colour. Made by Folk. Abduzeedo. Identity Designed. Beatrice Cerocchi.

Hello

Day 1: a latte and ramblings

@megreilly

Let’s start with introductions: my name is Sydney and I am 22 years old. I am a student studying Industrial and CMF Design. It sounds reductive for someone to introduce themselves by just their work title, but it seems stereotypical to do so. Anyways, welcome to my page! I am starting the 100 Day Challenge, posting a snippet of my life every day until April 24th. This will not only be a physical challenge — the logistics of blogging for a busy person is always a feat — but a mental one as well. I have never done something quite like this before, so welcome to the journey that is Sydney blogging.

The seemingly endless content makes me nervous (and excited) about how this will make me grow over the next semester. More often than not, things in your life (big or small) that test you, are some of the most rewarding experiences. I have no intention of gaining followers; I’m practically writing into a black void of the internet. But I’m thinking of this project more as a digital journal rather than a social media hurdle. I have been terrible at classic journaling in the past, so I have a feeling this will be better suited to my lifestyle. Looking back on this in a few months will be quite the time capsule.

Best of luck to everyone who is starting a new thing today. Starting something is always the hardest part. Congrats…we just did it!