Creativity and good ideas, can I learn how to?

[Simonarpalmer]

Hey Daggers!
I'm working and listening to Dan and Dave's great talk from yesterday ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKSRKGbG3NM ) about various things, and they talk about how good ideas are much more important than technical skill. I agree with this of course, and I recall Feng Zhu's great design cinema about visual library and how our activities as we grow up can greatly influence our ability to be creative and come up with cool ideas.
I know I have a problem not being able to come up with cool designs, in fact, I don't really care too much about it, I love the science of creating images, I love rendering and get a kick out of when I paint stuff and it looks correct, but I have come to prefer doing it from someone else's idea or comission.

I'd like to know your thoughts about wether or not it's possible to teach oneself to be a more creative person, to come up with new ideas? Left to my own devices I'll draw the most boring and weird stuff haha, or more likely just naked women all day.

[Blewzen]

Thanks for sharing I actually didnt know about this Dan and Dave talk I'll have to listen it, but I actually use to like creative artists more than technical artists (I love surealism art) and well also there are artists who are both technical and creative which is perfect combination, and is what I would like to become (someday).

I tried to think how to be creative myself and how to not do what other artists do 'cause sometimes my mind copy ideas from others unconsciously and in my case I just try to forget all those cool images that I like from other artists and then I think what kind of art I would like to do, what kind of things I want to tell etc.

To do cool things you need inspiration and inspiration is hard to find, in my case I love music I listen tons of different kind of music everyday (depending on my mood I choose the type), I can't draw without music, it is always a big inspiration for me (probably the biggest), also watching movies, reading books or travelling different places inspires me. I try to catch ideas or make short stories in my head (sometimes I even write down some to not forget them) and then I think how could I represent those in a painting or series of paintings etc

I don't know what else to say, I'm starting now to take art seriously and this is just my humble opinion or experience, hope it helps you in someway.

[Simonarpalmer]

Thanks Blewzen! Yeah, being inspired is one thing, I'll sometimes have ideas of what I want to do, but as I sketch them out, I know a lot of the time it's not going to cater towards the tastes of the general public, and I know as I look at it that it's a boring idea.
I have started to take an hour or two each day now to just do sketches of anything that comes to mind, hopefully it will eventually lead to better idea-generation.

[SpectreX]

I once read, can't remember who wrote it, that good ideas come from tons and tons of bad ideas.
That it is best to keep drawing / writing down each idea no matter how stupid or boring it looks and that once in a while a gem will come out of one of those ideas.

So yea, I would suggest to do what you said, just do sketches of every idea you get :)

[EduardoGaray]

^ what SpectreX said.

I agree, creativity is a skill that you need to practice everyday. Definitely not something in your genes, or a kind of "special talent"

Also, been constantly reading books/watching movies/comics/videogames, etc... helps greatly like Feng zhu said in that video.

[SpectreX]

Videogames do tend to suck away all my time though :p
I also once read about someone who for creativity and fun only watches movies or reads books / tradepaper comics.

As these have a certain beginning and end unlike tv shows or loose comic books (these last only come out every week or month (?) so these might still be do-able).
But tv shows you tend to want to watch the next episode, and the next, and the next. And before you know it, time is gone and no idea's were created / drawn.

But this is just my 2 cents on the side about something that I read somewhere :)

[EduardoGaray]

I doesnt matter what are you watching as long as you love it and it inspires you.
I remember being a 12 year teen playing Final fantasy and painting warhammer miniatures all day long.
Yeah it was a huge waste of time, but i dont think i would be here writing this without that "wasted years"

[SpectreX]

Also through, the blog I read it on was mostly focused on productivity, not so much on creativity.
So I might have gone a bit overboard with it :)

[Simonarpalmer]

Really appriciate your input everyone, love to hear more thoughts too! I absolutely agree that creative thinking is a skill that can be trained like any other, though perhaps more difficult to define compared to the fundamentals.

[Madzia]

I also saw Feng Zhu speaking about Visual Library. I was pretty scared at first that it's irreversible mistake made by my parents that they never traveled with my and I never visited any other countries etc. xD But yeah, you have right, it is a skill that you can learn like any other. My best way to keep my creativity on fixed level is probably RSS reader with tons on art blogs.
I love reading books, they are working on your imaginary in best way in my opinion but often I can't find enough time to read ... so I started listen to Audio books and radio shows. It works great for me! BBC 4 Extra http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4extra/ have a lot free shows and my favorite Old Time radio horror stories! Just search in itunes podcast for "horror" http://www.relicradio.com/otr/