To look or not to look...
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 9:23PM That is the question! Designers!
I sometimes pride myself on being a designer that doesn't look at designers. Like, ever.
I look at art and nature. And deep within.
I like to think my creativity is found through myself - when I am most 'connected' with the world and..... Yes, there is that word I use a bit much these days maybe, GOD.
I think God is within us as we are just a reflection of God.... so in creativity, whether you go in or out, you go God, baby.
uh huh?
Anyway.... point is... what?
Yes, I give God full credit for my creativity it seems. Hmm.. that's slack.
But when I'm not all me me me (and god, who is me anyway), sometimes I pick up a magazine or occassionally click through a designer's website and well, i quietly freak out. "I'm shit I'm shit I'm shit!! arhghghg. I should quit, what am I doing, I suck suck suck!"
And then I forget again. la dee daa...
But today, dagnabit, I'm facing my shitness. I have looked hard at some illustrations by America's finest. And I'm going to just practice their styles. I could feel bad about 'copying' but come to think of it, everyone is seriously copying everyone else. Like who is truly original. C'mon.
AND if you copy technique and some style ideas over n over, eventually your own unique style and ideas should emerge from that.
The trick, I believe, is to be aware of what you're doing.
Plenty of people store other people's ideas in their subconscious and think they are being original when they produce them. Yes that apparently awe inspiring concept they pulled 'out of no where' is simply one they have forgotten that they saw last year!
I won't do that. No I won't...
Or will I?
Guess I won't know. and you probably won't either...
I was reading this book the other night 'Creative Jolt Inspiration'. Fairly crap, don't buy it. But it had a para about where creativity comes from. In this particular person's mind, it comes from the input of stacks of visual information until your mind literally sparks up - catches alight and there is the idea. bang! or pop! or ouch!
When, hmmm, there I was thinking that this was a cheaty pants way. Maybe they are right. Maybe I need more input. But they did say that the visual input should be minimal on other designers of the same area stuff, instead input things like nature, art, conversations, readings...
So, I think a bit of designer input is overdue. I got the rest going on alright.
And to be honest with myself, I need to face up to my shitness sometimes and turn that jealousy into hard work.
go me.
Here are some posters I'm (STILL) working on that utilise a little style stealing. just a little....
[current mood] Sleepy Time Tea & Total Eclipse of The Heart - The Literal Version!
design, ideas, illustration in Inspiration
Reader Comments (5)
Hello Natalija,
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rach and I have been a reader/follower of your blog for a couple of years now...just lurking in cyberspace - how creepy that seems when written here! I think I came across you when I "googled" fringes for hair inspiration! I have always meant to leave a comment to tell you how much I enjoy reading your entries and thought to myself after reading this entry, that I must.
You are far from shit! You have inspired me on many occasions - once I made my family felt stars with googly eyes...not that you make those as such, but you seem to take such joy in the little things and turn them into amazing photographs/works of art/poetry etc etc. Anyway, this came out as a load of gibberish, but just wanted to say: thanks for creating & maintaining an awesome site to visit, which provides lots of inspiration and happiness (I especially love it when you write about Oscar - never fails to make me smile!).
You are great at what you do! :)
R.
Rach, wow! It is so lovely to hear from you! I love that people pop up out of the blue to say "hello, I'm reading". I really can't tell who is. So thank you so much for writing. I appreciate your kind words (and mmm I think I might go make some felt critters for my family now! haha). But yes, must say that my self-depreciation is all in good spirit. I don't think I'm entirely shit! I just like to explore these doubts and publish them too I guess.
much love,
Nat
x
Oh Nat, I hope you never, ever quit. I'd be devastated to live in a world no longer being made prettier by your designs. I've always been a fan of your work - perhaps I haven't said it enough. But there it is, you're in my top three favourite designers/creatives. Ever. Your pretty images always uplift and inspire me to be a little more creative in my own life.
I think, as creative people, we need to have continual input - the best is through nature, obviously - in order to feed our fires. So don't think of looking at other designers' work as cheating, but extending your education a little bit, teaching yourself new skills or new ways of looking. No matter the input, the output will always contain the essence of Natalija, which can't be copied or fudged. And that's what all your fans - and you have many - love to see.
xx
Hi Natty
Although engaged in a very different kind of work to you at the moment, I related to your blog. In my case, to read or not to read.
What you said about giving God credit for your creativity made me think of this talk about where creative genius comes from.
www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html
xox
Our 'gifts' are not from God to us, but from God through us to the world.
When we create something appealing, even in an act as pragmatic as the way we arrange our living rooms and choose the colour of the wallpaper, or add a new typeface to our printer fonts, we show our integral relationship with the Creator.
Art and faith require not only perception but work. After the initial epiphany–the moment of revelation–come the fifty rough drafts, the struggle to enflesh the intangible, the wrestling match with the angel. The most real and believable experience is personal, immediate, direct–knowing God is at work to shape me; me finding my own words, colours, idioms for what I am perceiving myself, fresh from the mind of God.
In the process of writing, designing or making art, or being prophets, we are peeling back the layers, unearthing the universe to its heart. We are also continuing the work of creation; as we see pictures in our heads and translate them into a new kind of reality.
Alexandr Solzhenitzyn (Nobel Prize winner for literature) said, archeologists have not yet discovered any stage of human existence without art. Even in the half-light before the dawn of humanity we received this gift from Hands we did not manage to discern. Nor have most of us managed to ask: Why was this gift given to us, and what are we to do with it.
Peace and Love