Learn the steps of how to be creative and integrate creativity in your everyday life. In this blog post, I’ll tell you the secrets of creativity inspiration and how to get ideas that will let you be creative with your ideas, thoughts, DIY projects, art, drawings, design, poetry, blog post writing, podcast making or any other creative adventure you want to pursue. Don’t know how to get over the creativity fear? Here is how. #becreative #creativeinspiration #creativityquotes
Creativity is the act of taking a new, imaginative idea and turning it into a reality, whether it is a work of art, poem, story, prototype, or science experiment. Creativity is the ability to view the world in new ways and to make connections between things and see hidden patterns and use the information to find new solution. Most things that are interesting or important both in the world and our daily lives are a result of someone’s creativity. Creativity is simply taking your dreams, imagination, wonders, and doodles, and making them a reality.
So… What are the Steps to Leading a Creative Path in Your Everyday Life?
Being a creative thinker is a lot of work. First, You are CONSTANTLY thinking and ideas usually hit you at unexpected times. Brushing your teeth? WHACK! Picking weeds? WHAM! Trying to ….SLEEP?! WHOOSH! Second, it takes great courage to be creative. Self-doubt and self-judgment are REAL. Being creative and showing it to others can put you in a vulnerable situation. It takes a lot of will power to bypass all of these inhibiting emotions. Creative ideas can rush in unexpectedly sometimes and you need to grasp them. Write them done, put a note in your phone, or voice record for later. Now that we have our ideas, what do we do with them?
Start Slow and Take Note!
You need to take it easy as you start your creative path. Don’t try to make or create all your ideas and dreams. Take a mindful approach. Take walks, read books, or immerse yourself in something that makes you feel calm and happy (avoid TV….) and let the ideas calm. When you are rested and happy, ideas can come easier. Note the ideas, accept your ideas. You do not need to make any judgments about the ideas being “good” or not. Just accept them and record them. Taking note of your creative thinking is the first step in leading your creative path.
Create Small
Once you have ideas accumulated in your notebook, sketchbook, post-it notes, white board, or phone, then you can choose some ideas to pursue. However, start creating small. You can make small renditions of your ideas (you can always make your favorite creations bigger later). Make small, tiny explorations. Creating can make you feel vulnerable or uncomfortable, especially if this is new for you. So start with tiny experimentations such as tiny paintings, watercolor explorations, sketchbook doodles, poems, story planning, or tiny prototype designs. Don’t create with the end in mind at this stage. Create with the creative process in mind. Ideas and skills need to ferment for a while in your mind in order to be able to create a well-thought out idea, plan, or art piece later.
Don’t Over-Think, Just Create!
Sometimes we get an idea then let it ferment… too long. Then we never create! The idea then fades and your notes get buried in your closet and never become a reality. So the best thing to do is, after you’ve done a few tiny experimentations over your first week in your path to being creative in your everyday life, is to start creating! It doesn’t matter what you create, just do it! Don’t over-edit, don’t over think and forget to do… Just do. Grab your medium and make. Use sharpie and make it permanent- NO PENCILS! Stop erasing! Just let it out and make it happen. If it’s a blog post that you’re writing, just write it and hit publish. If you’re creating a YouTube video, make it and publish. Don’t let your hard work stay hidden. Remember, we all suck at the start. We were all born as fleshy blobs, but look where we get to in adulthood! Baby steps are needed. Make, create, make mistakes, learn from your mistakes, and through this repeated trial-error-make-eww-create-cool pattern, you eventually get better. Every time you try, you will get a little better each time. Make EVERY DAY. This is all part of the creative path that you have committed yourself to.
Go outside
Go outside with your sketchbook, tablet, or computer and create in a new space. This will feel uncomfortable and even vulnerable. GOOD! The more uncomfortable you feel and the more you learn to bypass this feeling, the more willing you will to create in safe spaces. It will make things EASIER later. You will learn to just DO IT. Create – think – plan – create. So go outside, either in your own yard, a park, a beach, or forest. Create a doodle in your sketchbook, write a poem, a short story, or a blog post. Create one small thing in this new environment. Make yourself uncomfortable and get over it. Once you’re over that feeling, you’ll never feel it again when you are asked or ask yourself to think creatively. You’ll just do it.
Refine and Polish your Creations
As you start accumulating small works, blog posts, YouTube videos, podcasts, sketchbook doodles, poems, or wild and crazy brainstorms, then you can start intentionally refining and polishing your creations. Alright, you now know how to create. NOW what? Research online, in books, or take online courses and find one thing you’re going to learn and get better at. Maybe you are going to learn how to paint on large canvases instead of small and you invest your time in that. Maybe you research how to write powerful blog posts that capture an audience. Maybe you research about new video editing software and learn more about how to increase the editing and quality of your videos. Start intentionally making decisions on how you are going to refine and polish your creations and make sure you LEARN. You CAN get better through creating over and over and increasing your skill. BUT, you can LEARN new things to add to your skills as well in order to fast pace what YOU can do even more. I LOVE online courses. Knowledge is easily accessible now a days and it is important to take advantage of that.
Create for You
This hard. Sometimes, especially when our creations become part of our life, we accidentally begin to create for others and not ourselves. This could be because you are selling your work and you are creating what sells or for your consumers. Maybe you take on commissions. Maybe you get comments on certain pieces and then, you create more of that because it is what other people like. But do you like it? Does it make you happy? Check with yourself regularly and make sure you are creating for yourself too. You can also do a balanced creating path. For example, I create my blog, my YouTube channel, and art tutorials for Artastic Nation. I DO pick topics and things that I want to create and that are from my imagination. However, I make ART, such as watercolor paintings, acrylic paintings, and my ceramic sculptures for ME. I show them in galleries and sell my works but I only ever make them FOR ME. What I WANT. I do not bend to pressures from galleries or curators or customers. I don’t do commissions. At the time of writing this post, I am teaching full-time and am doing Ms Artastic full-time as well. That is nearly every moment of every day doing work for others. So when I make my own art, I do it for me. It makes me happy. It is a creative release. And no one can tell me otherwise.
Don’t Stop Creating. Ever.
If you want to take steps on a creative path then you need to stay on the path and keep walking. If you make a decision to be creative in all that you do in your everyday life, then you need to stick to that decision. After all, what is the point of making a decision to be creative if, after a week or a month, you stop practicing your creative journey? Don’t stop creating. Ever. No matter what, keep being creative. Yes, that means that sometimes you have to scale back and go back to sketches or doodles or creating plot lines or endless blog post drafts. Whatever you do, don’t stop. If you need to, block out a chunk of time or decide on a day in the week where you will do a creative task. Don’t stop creating. Ever.
So, what do you do to be creative? How did you start? What are your tips for newbies on the creative journey? Do you have anything to add to this blog post? Please scroll down and leave your thoughts in the comments section of this post!
Love from,
Ms Artastic
Read My Blog Posts that Will Take you to the NEXT LEVEL:
-Learn How to Fuel your Creativity
-Learn About How to Walk a Creative Path in your Everyday Life
-How to Encourage a Maker Mindset in your Classroom
-Exploring the Elements of Art at Home with ANYTHING!
-10 Reasons Why Arts Integration in Schools is Important
-How To Guide for First Year Art Teachers: 10 Steps to Success
-How to Teach Art Classroom Rules and Routines in a Fun and Engaging Way
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