Photo by Ivan Prole, SXC.hu
One of my favorite bloggers is Gwen Bell. She’s a social media expert, speaker, and a blast to follow on Twitter, as well. This post is in response to a challenge she issued yesterday at the end of her post Considering the Creative Process:
What does your creative process look like? This is mine. These are the things I believe about creativity. I don’t think your process will look anything like mine, but this may jump start you thinking about your creativity in new ways.
If you’re inclined to write a post about your creative process, use the tag #getcreative on your post and when you update to Twitter/Facebook so that we can create a community of creative professionals sharing the process. In this way, we can all grow in the act of collaboration.
I watched the TED talk with Elizabeth Gilbert that Gwen mentioned in her post, and I began considering how I respond to creativity and what my own creative process looks like. I’m not a 100% creative like many artists. I am 50% left-brained and 50% right-brained. I’m with Gwen – for me, creativity requires some order, and some constraint.
Getting in the Zone
Like the creative spirits of Medieval times, I sometimes feel that creativity flutters down, and I’m able to capture it in a moment of perfectly-timed inspiration. My Moleskines and sketchbooks and mind-maps help me with this. However, for me, more often that not, I have to create an environment in which I can be creative. I have an office that I’ve decorated with pictures of people I love and quotes that are meaningful to me. I have music and good lighting. I have resources at hand – my notebooks, a copy of Thinkertoys, issues of HOW and Dwell, a plethora of colored Sharpies, pencils, colored pencils, glue…
And also bills, pieces of mail, coupons, fliers, and other things that quickly clutter my creative process. Most often, I must deal with these and clear them away before I can zero in.
Creating
After I’m in the zone, my creative process looks something like this:
When an idea comes, I first sketch it out in some way. I’m a visual thinker, so even blog post concepts are usually sketched out in a more visual manner – I use a storyboard Moleskine so I can visually see the flow of ideas. The Creative Perch blog was first sketched out in my sketchbook, including exact Pantone swatch colors.
Then, I take my mockup to my husband Chris. He’s always the first person I run my ideas by. He’s more right-brained on the creativity spectrum than I am, and he’s an excellent filter for what’s relevant and cool and effective. Usually, after these conversations, I go back to the drawing board. Sometimes I toss the idea at that point; other times, I refine it, create a new mockup, and begin the production process.
Once I have something to show the world, I introduce it to my private social networks (friends & family) and then my public social networks (Facebook, Twitter, blog). All of the feedback I receive in these forums helps me further refine and improve the product or idea and take it to the final stage of production.
What’s Your Creative Process?
I love collaboration between creative professionals. Please join me in stepping up to Gwen’s challenge. Write a post about your creative process and use the tag #getcreative on your post. Then, let us all know when you update to Twitter/Facebook so that we can create a community of creative professionals sharing the process.
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[...] Dee Wilcox – My Creative Process [...]
I like this post — the #getcreative series is a real interesting way to pick up on what other professionals do.
I’m with you on clearing bills and distractions… and not so much on such a clearly-defined set of steps. That’s what makes the process different, though, and probably what distinguishes our work from one another. I like that.
Brian
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Thanks for taking the time to comment, Brian! I’m enjoying the #getcreative series, too, and I hope it takes off even more than it already has. While we each have our own individual creative process, I think we can learn from how others create, too. There is value in sharing – like the box JJ Abrams’ father gave him. I do not have a box on my desk, but hearing that story opened up my mind a little to imagine what could be. And to consciously think about what could be as it applies to my work is a valuable tool.
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