The Creative Process- How It Works
No one is creative all the time.
True enough, some people can get more done than others depending on how well they prioritize their work, responsibilities at hand & general circumstances. But for an artist to create one masterpiece after another is just impossible.
The reality is bad art is more common than good art. In this blog post, I want to bring to light the cumbersome process of an artistic journey and try to justify why you should keep creating and not beat yourself up regardless of the results.
A few weeks ago, I came across a podcast. It was a short recording of Ira Glass talking about the creative process. In it, he says how young artists see and admire the works of other accomplished artists and start to notice the gap.
What is The Gap?
If you are early in your journey, the gap is going to be enormous. This can make any beginner or even intermediate-level artist feel overwhelmed.
Sometimes, despite the work you put in, you don’t see any positive results. This may make you feel inadequate. You may even start to question: Is art worth your time?
The only way you can bridge the gap is through consistent practice.
Oftentimes artists struggle with consistency. Sometimes we lack motivation, other times, life gets in the way. But despite setbacks and adversities, we still manage to find ourselves back to creating art. That’s how we know we are artists. The urge to make art is deeply embedded in us.
How To Build Consistency
A part of being consistent boils down to habit. If you create art every day and do it long enough for a couple of months, creating art will come naturally to you.
But like me, if you are trying to be consistent at your craft but not in the habit of practicing every day, the struggle will be real. You will have to constantly be negotiating with yourself, not giving in to instant gratifications, avoiding distractions, and most importantly, keeping the zeal to pursue art ignited.
Why Artists Lack Consistency
A part of being consistent boils down to habit. The other part is being courageous and developing thick skin. When you share something you have created, it puts you in a vulnerable spot because now people can judge your work. And they may not have the nicest thing to say. Here’s where the creative process explained by Ira Glass is worth mentioning.
Consistent work doesn’t mean making cool art one after the other. That’s not how the creative process works. You have to realize that a lot of the artworks you create will be shitty and full of flaws.
Not every composition of Mozart became a classic. In fact, he composed a whole lot of lesser-known pieces around the same time he composed the now-known piano classics.
My point is if you want to bridge the gap, aim for quantity over quality. The more art you make, the better your art will get. This is the part of the creative process that many artists tend not to acknowledge.
To create great art, you must first create bad art. Have the courage to put your works out in the world even if it may not be where you want them to be. With practice, good art will turn average, and average will eventually turn to great.
With this, this blog post comes to an end. I wish you luck on your artistic journey. If you’d like to know more about the creative process, below is the link to Ira Glass’s take on it.
Originally published at https://yuranamchoom.com on April 4, 2021.
