Expand Your Creativity not Just to the Outcome, but the Process

#12: Expand your creativity not just to the outcome, but the process.

There are many, MANY tools out there these days and so many of them just blend together. You know what I mean? There are dozens of apps for drawing, and they all work and do pretty much the exact same thing!

Even in the non-digital realm, there are many similar tools to do the same job. So why not make your own?

Here's an example:
As a new film-director, you may not have a lot of tools to use for some shots you want. Maybe you want a really smooth panning effect. An easy way to do this is to hack your own slide together!

Go to a home-improvement store and get a metal drawer slider. You can mount one part to a tripod, and mount your camera to the other. Simple as that. DIY is a great way to do things.

What about creating something that's unique?

Yeah. You can create something that's been done hundreds of times over, but you can create something unique to help yourself stand out even more.

Example:

I'm sure some of you have seen the typewriter that has been hacked into a painting-machine. If not, you can see it here.

WHAT?? This thing is amazing. Now words can literally paint pictures.

So go out there and DIY something amazing!

What happened to the 101+ list?

Hey!

For anyone following this blog, or being lead here via Tumblr, you may be noticing my absence of content. Well, work has given me quite a lot to work on at the moment. I work for a community college, converting textbooks for disabled students, and the new term is always the busiest time for us. This week will be a short break, and things will start in full-force again next week!

In the meantime, I'd like to hear what you guys do to help inspire yourself!

Be A Part Of The Group That Redefines The Industry

Master-mind groups work

#10: Be a part of the group that redefines the industry.

Put together a Master-Mind group and commit to it like a shotgun wedding.

Master-mind groups are where you get a handful of like-minded people who are having some success of varying degrees and meet on a regular basis. It could be anywhere from 2 to 15 people, but consistency is key.

In these groups, you should plan to meet every week, or once a month, but no less. When you meet, make sure that you have a clearly defined schedule for the meeting. This is how I work mine:

• Go over your current project status
• Talk about what you hope to accomplish by the next meeting
• Group discussion on connections, resources, and ideas for the goal

Take turns with each person doing this, and give everyone a fair amount of the group's interest.

With a master-mind group, you can hold each other accountable for your work. So if I make plans to write a chapter in my novel by next week, the group will shame me if I don't provide them with the chapter.

Often times, we end the group with some kind of team game to wind down. Have fun, and do the work you set out to do!

Working Together In Person Is No Longer Necessary

Connect across the world

#9 Working together is no longer necessary

O.K. GO

I'm sure you've heard of this band, or seen their video on YouTube by now. They started by collaborating on the internet.

Internet collaboration isn't just geared towards music. Many, MANY people collaborate over the internet all the time to create their work with others.

If you don't know how to get in touch with people to collaborate with, you can look on many different websites specializing in different industries as a social network:

Vimeo or YouTube for film
DeviantART or Behance.net for art
SoundCloud or LastFM for audio
and many more. Just do a Google search!

You also have things like forums, and other social network groups. Facebook, for instance, has so many groups it's insane. Join in on some of these groups and contribute. Make friends with the people on there and get working!

Friends Are Great Sources Of Ideas

Double-team creativity!

#8: Friends are great sources of ideas

Friends! We have them. Everyone. Even if you think you're alone, you're not. You have someone you talk to online, in class, at work. Talk to them!

Now, you don't have to say "Hey, give me your ideas for what I can do." If you want, you can. But more organic conversations yield the best ideas.

As an example, I'm working on a story of a cupcake miner. This idea came around from jokingly threatening my girlfriend I'll send her to the cupcake mines if she kept punching me. This gave me the idea of a big, burly miner with a serious look on his face mining for cupcakes.

Ideas also don't have to be something obvious.

Imagine this scenario:

Todd is hanging out with his friends and they're talking about a video game. This particular video is really fun to play, but the music doesn't fit the feel. So Todd has the idea to write an album specifically to fit the feel of this game.

Enjoy hanging out with your friends and absorb their awesome. Then utilize it!

Look Through Every Eye But Yours

#7: Look through every eye but yours

We use our eyes all the times, literally and figuratively. Our perspective is always with us, and we tend to forget that others will not see things from our perspective, and we also forget that our perspectives change quite often.

Try looking at things from the perspective of friends and family, of a child, a bird, a couch, everything!

If you're a guitarist and you write songs with a lot of crazy guitar riffs, why not try something simple and give the drums more focus?

Dancer? Choreograph your moves as if you're right in front of the audience, instead of on a large stage.

Different perspectives can give you much so much more depth with what you do.

Negative Space Gives More Focus To The Content

#6: Negative space gives more focus to the content.

In creativity, we often pack in way too much content and forget about...      space.

Spacing singles out the content that matters, and I'll give you some examples shortly. But what you need to understand is that even a little bit of space can create a huge impact. Especially if that space is different than expected.

For a written example:

"It has come to my attention that you have forgotten why you're doing what you're doing. In fact... I believe you threw that purpose aside."

In this example, the space after "in fact" emphasizes the thought, giving it a slightly bigger punch. The space could have held much longer by adding descriptions of the speaker looking at the accused. The longer the space, the greater the emphasis.

For music, I saw Disturbed live and they played their biggest hit, "Down With The Sickness" as an encore. The whole arena was dark, everyone chanting, then you hear the drummer play a solo. Lights come on underneath him as he plays: the crowd screams. Then the lights go off again. The screams die down. And then... the drummer plays the intro of "Down With The Sickness." Screams erupt like crazy. Then he stops. The crowd gets louder. He starts again, this time with the bassist. The crowd gets louder. They stop.

They start again, this time with the guitarist out on a lit catwalk. Still just the intro riff. Then they stop.

They stop longer then before.

Then you hear David Draiman come into the song, the full band comes in, the arena lights up, and you see Draiman on a platform in the middle of the arena.

The pauses gave tension and anticipation that made the song feel so much more epic. Space can add a lot to your content.

The Past Is Full Of Great Examples

Everyone succeeding now is inspired - at least in part - by those before them. Everyone that succeeded before now was inspired - at least in part - by those before them. So on. And so forth.

There are many great examples in the past of innovation, success, stability, ideas, and so much more that you really shouldn't ignore it. Take a hint from history for a bit!

• ,Music has classical composers.
• Film has classic play-writes.
• Authors, of course, have classic authors.
• Modern dancers have ballerinas and ethnic dancers.

Turn back the clock and bring in a bit of class from the older days.

Innovators Are Those Who Go Against The Norm

Innovations in technology, business, living, or anything else is created by people who do things differently than anyone else working for the same goal. Being different is pretty key in innovating and being more creative.

If you're a filmmaker, one possibility of being different could be as simple as a comedy in the film noir style, or as extreme as creating whole new technologies (as James Cameron did for Avatar.) The ways in which you can innovate your industry are endless, so try all of them that come to mind.

Projects in the Works!

Right now, I'm working on several projects that are taking up most of my time. One thing I'm EXCITED to be working on is a secret project with with Kardashev, a great band started by my friend Nico from Composer, Meet Corpse. This is, for me, an artistic venture that will be challenging and quite rewarding. Check out both bands, and enjoy a healthy dose of metal.

Another project I am currently working on is a personal project I hope to bring to the world soon! It is also an artistic venture. This project will have some behind-the-scenes style photos and teasers, so please stay tuned for these!

Mostly, the project I'm working on is my first solo EP using Open Source Software. Using Open Source Software allows me to keep costs low while staying 100% legal, to experiment with sounds that cost hundreds of dollars from commercial equivalents for free, and take a new path on the music production road. A few of the songs have appeared on my SoundCloud account. If you have an account, follow me for more work!