A unique approach to the art-making process: insider knowledge, original ideas, and useful tips to unlock your creativity in visual arts, overcome artist block, and find inspiration for your next artworks.
As visual artists, we’ve been pursuing the sinuous path of our creative process from beginning to the end and again and again, in a flow of energy and actions, sometimes interrupted by low inspiration or artist block. Regardless of whether we’ve been making art for a short or a long period of time, a deep understanding of the process of creation in art is vital for us in so many ways.
But why do we need to understand what a creative process is and how it works, what is the key to making art, and how to be a process-driven artist instead of an outcome-oriented one?
These questions, which you may have asked yourself before, have been popping up ever since I hit a creative slump five years ago. Little by little, I’ve learned that understanding and being mindful about the key moments as well as about the twists and turns of our creative journey in visual arts can help us get unstuck, be more creative in our daily artistic practice, and stay inspired over time.
Together with my colleague Lynn Schwartz, an American artist living in France, I’m currently peeling off the layers, exploring the insides, and walking the arduous treks of the creative process in art from conception through completion of a series of artworks and beyond. We are thrilled to share our experience-based knowledge about the creative process in art with you on The Pointless Artist Podcast and The Pointless Artist Blog!
In the meantime, you can discover the 3 secrets about the creative process in art, which will help you understand its complex mechanism step by step, while following our series of talks about the art-making process in the coming weeks.
In our first podcast episode and in this first blog post of the series called „The Creative Process in Art: All you need to know“, we answer the following 5 most frequently asked questions:
What is the creative process in art and what is the key to the process?
How can the art-making process feel successful and rewarding though challenging and, perhaps, hard at times?
Creative processes are individual actions. Although every creative process is unique and different, they all seem to have something in common. What is that?
What does it mean to be a process-driven artist: does it mean to not have any idea or outcome in mind at all?
Does a creative process have a beginning and an end?
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*** If you'd like to learn more about creative slump and how to get unstuck, read my essential guide to overcoming artist block and unlocking your artistic creativity. ***
What is the creative process in art and what is the key to the process?Â
Here’s a non-exhaustive answer to this complex question, which captures the essence of any creative process in art: the art-making process is a perpetual balance between idea and no idea, between knowing and no longer knowing what we do when we are in the creative flow; a motion of creativity, intuition, thought, and the subsequent actions taken towards reaching a concrete outcome.
But the creative process isn‘t just the flow we experience in our moments of silent grace, but it’s also everything that precedes and follows it. In other words, a creative journey in art is everything that ultimately leads to the final artworks: impulses, one’s intuition and ideas, the field and studio research we usually conduct, the inspiration we gather along the way, the joys and challenges we encounter with the techniques and mediums we choose, and so much more ...
Negociating the balance between idea and no idea, knowing and not knowing requires a blend of courage, self-confidence, inner motivation and passion in addition to determination and commitment to doing the work despite all the failures and frustrations that may occur along our creative journey full of uncertainty and wonder.
"A perpetual balance between idea and no idea, between knowing and no longer knowing ..."
Lynn and I firmly believe that the key to an art-making process that feels rewarding to us is the joy we put into it. Have fun while in the process, be in it, and don‘t care too much about the outcome. That is to say, don’t focus on the end result upfront. Allow yourself to follow the path and routine you’ve set up around it, and enjoy this journey full of adventures, mindful of both the challenges and the incredible pleasures that it holds. For it is only this way that you can unlock your creative potential and open yourself up to new possibilities in art. It is only this way that you can follow your creative process as it unfolds.
“Art isn't a result; it's a journey. The challenge of our time is to find a journey worthy of your heart and your soul.“ (Seth Godin)
How can the creative process in art feel successful in spite of the many hurdles along the way?
As we all know, the process of making art can be a truly challenging experience filled with discoveries, but also with smaller or bigger obstacles and failures we may encounter along the way. Therefore, resilience and having fun while making art are crucial.
Like C. P. Cavafy wrote in his iconic poem Ithaka, none of the challenges you’ll face during your process of creation in art will affect or compromise its outcome as long as “you keep your thoughts raised high“ most of the time and „you don’t hurry the journey at all “, no matter how many inner fights you’ll have to face and how many external hurdles you may have to deal with to achieve your final destination.
Make the artistic journey your actual goal and, once you reach your destination - the final artworks, „wise as you will have become [and] so full of experience“, you’ll realise how marvelous and rewarding your art-making process was for you! And remember: make art with your heart, not with your mind. Always.
When your creativity becomes entangled in the net of the mind, the inner critic, together with a slew of ghosts, anxieties, and dellusions, awaken bit by bit. Artist block pops up. A lack of motivation follows. And the process becomes a loop because the movement of the thoughts is often repetitive. Nevertheless, you can set your creativity free if you choose to follow your heart.
*** Read more about how to make art with your heart here and learn how to descend your mind into your heart and cultivate an attitude of allowing your creative energy to flow from this blog post. ***
What is the common pattern to all creative processes in art?
One's creative process in art is not a one-size-fits-all concept, but rather a deeply personal and unique journey filled with a wide spectrum of human emotions, ideas, and doubts. At the same time, the art-making process is a great opportunity for each of us to explore one's beliefs, values, frustrations, torments, passions, and the very essence of our being.
Openness is the key to finding not only the path towards a concrete result, but also what resonates within us on an inner level. Being true to ourselves and honoring our uniqueness and the wonder of the art-making process in all its forms, with all the challenges and failures that it may entangle, is what it's all about, in a nutshell.
Nevertheless, all creative processes seem to have something in common, which is exactly what Lynn and I have been discussing in our first podcast episode, and what we‘ll be exploring in greater depth in our subsequent episodes on The Pointless Artist Podcast.
There‘s a common pattern rooted in the same openness and joy that visual artists experience when they are making art, as well as the routine that artists follow to achieve concrete results, i.e. the actual artworks.Â
There’s always a beginning to the creative process in art, whether it's an intuition, an impulse, a thought, an idea, a spontaneous movement of creative energy, a genuine act of creation, or a simple gesture ...
Next comes the exploration phase of our artistic journey, when we play with rough ideas and experiment with any medium we choose, e.g. brush marks, colours, three dimensional objects, or computer shapes, to name just a few. At this stage of excitement and infinite possibilities, we recognise, make choices, reinvent reality, and transfigure the banal. For instance, Lynn works loosely and often backwards: she draws blindly or walks and draws, whereas I love to gather inspiration and collect all kinds of items in nature, then bring them back to my studio and play with them for hours.
***Discover here the truth about art inspiration, how to find it, and how to stay inspired as a visual artist. More about where and how to find inspiration as an artist you can read here.***
As we allow ourselves to be in this creative flow and engage further and deeper with our creative process, we narrow down on the initial possibilities, we make further choices, and develop the ideas, forms, and previous sketches into something more elaborate, concrete, specific.
In this phase, we sometimes pause the creative flow to reflect on what we're doing. It‘s when the switching between idea and no idea, knowing and not knowing occurs on a more regular and structured basis. It‘s when the rational mind takes over for a short time, and when the artwork takes shape and becomes more "image-like". At this stage, abstract works pursue their deeper path to abstraction, while the figurative ones develop into more figurative, some even hyperrealistic works.
Then there‘s the phase of completing a series of artworks, which seems to mark the end of a creative process in art. But does the artistic process ever come to an end?
*** Curious about the 3 main stages of the creative process in art? Read a clear and original overview of the art-making process here. ***
What does it mean to be a process-driven artist in a nutshell?
Are process-driven artists blind to the outcome of their art-making process? Do they have no inkling of what their work will be? Yes and no. It depends on several factors, such as the technique they use, the type of tools and raw materials they work with, the subject they choose (if any), and whether they’re figurative or rather abstract.
Lynn and I, for example, don't focus very much on the goal, but rather on how we get there. It doesn't mean we don't care about the end result, but we care more about the work it takes to get to the final destination. „The end, once you get there, is over. If you’re not enjyoing the process you’re going to miss out on the most important part, really, which is the act of creating“, says Lynn. And, by the way, it doesn't mean we don't pay any importance whatsoever to the end result, but we simply love the whole art-making process and have so much fun at it. In Lynn's own words:
„It doesn’t mean you don’t care about it, but you care more about getting there.“ (Lynn Schwartz)
Therefore, you shouldn’t become too narrow too quickly in your creative process. Don’t decide right away. Keep as many possibilities open for as long as possible. Allow yourself to be in the creative flow, to experiment and test ways to reach an outcome later on – an outcome that you cannot predict but know will follow as a direct consequence to your creative process in art.
“Artists are people who make art. Art is not a gene or a specific talent … Art is the unique work of a human being, work that touches another … Art is who we are and what we do and what we need. Art isn't a result; it's a journey. The challenge of our time is to find a journey worthy of your heart and your soul.“ (Seth Godin)
*** If you want to learn how to allow creativity and inspiration to flow, listen to my podcast episode with Canadian yoga teacher, Ayurvedic expert, and book author Susan Hopkinson on The Pointless Artist Podcast. ***
Does the creative process in art have a beginning and an end?
Preferably not.
Lynn and I believe that the art-making process doesn’t end with the finished artworks. It’s rather a continuum, a never-ending adventure that follows a sinuous yet extraordinary path – the road of one's life, closely intertwined with one's artistic path: a journey that follows a twisting yet remarkable course.
As the Greek poet C. P. Cavafy expressed it in his marvelous poem Ithaka:
"Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now."
Thank you for reading till the end. Stay tuned, and hit subscribe if you enjoyed this contribution. You can drop me an e-mail, or pm me on Instagram @the_pointless_artist. I'd love to hear from you!
Recognise your pointlessness and keep creating!
From Spain with love,
Bianca Vinther
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