Thursday, September 28, 2017

Why Do Artists Procrastinate?

You really can't compare procrastinating something unpleasant to procrastinating art. One of the most common explanations for procrastination is fear. Is it also true for creativity?

It's the hurdle of remembering the invisible, intuitive part that costs me extra effort.

One of the most common problems artists face is the creative block which I believe is in truth procrastination, as I wrote in another article. There is an endless variety of great ideas for dealing with creative procrastination all over the internet, but I never stumbled over an explanation why we procrastinate art in the first place. I mean, I did find explanations, but none of them felt right to me so far.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Are Artists an Intellectual and Moral Authority?

Famous artists are often treated like some kind of superhumans with an accordingly superhuman authority, even on subjects they have nothing to do with. What are the consequences?

We can't trust anyone expressing his or her opinion publicly.
And how can we consider someone so untrustworthy an intellectual and moral authority?

You see this quote often. Artists, let's say the actors Ex and Why, say that Donald Trump is bad, that everyone should work together to fight world hunger, cancer and dictatorships, that misogyny is horrible and so on. And for some reason the more widely known Ex and Why are, the more weight their words get. As if famous artists weren't just normal humans like you and me.

Getting famous people to support one's cause is an old, widely known and widely used marketing strategy that benefits both sides: People, organizations and everyone whose agenda Ex and Why support get more attention and more money (if they collect donations). And since artists usually support causes that are considered good by most people, they get more positive attention by the media, more popularity and eventually more money.

Famous artists are people looked up to. Their opinion matters. Even if it is wrong, opportunistic or just a marketing strategy. Isn't it questionable?

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Art and Intuition - How Trustworthy Is an Artist's Inner Voice?

Artists are expected to follow their intuition. But does it always lead to great results? What if your intuition is playing a trick on you?

Intuition is important when creating art.

The stereotypical artist uses some kind of sixth sense instead of his mind. His ideas seem like a divine vision that he only has to bring in a physical form in order to create a timeless masterpiece ...

Only it doesn't work like this. Well, following one's intuition mindlessly does work sometimes. Paul McCartney is said to have composed the ingenious melody of Yesterday in a dream. But in most cases, especially in the cases of average-talented and yet inexperienced artists, this results in stepping into every cliché trap possible.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Why Is Art Lying?

When we were little artworks taught us lessons about the world that turned out to be lies as we grew older. Every one of us has faced such disappointments in life. Every one of us knows how they hurt. So why do we keep passing these lies on to younger generations?

We keep passing on stories about great heroes from generation to generation. - Why?

Last week I had a discussion with a colleague who said she was disappointed in men. She is not the first woman I heard saying this. And definitely not the last. Moreover, I was disappointed in men too, and I've come across quite a few men who said they were disappointed in women. It seems that from a certain age on most of us are disappointed, be it in love or another area of life.

The culprit here is not other people or this oh-so-cruel world but rather our own expectations. Expectations shaped by the first years of our life. Expectations to some extent shaped by the stories, myths and motifs we were exposed to as children.

Sooner or later, however, we get a taste of the real world. We learn that all those stories about great heroes slaying dragons, true love and the good always defeating evil are lies. This realization is often traumatizing. So why do we keep telling those lies from generation to generation?

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Art and Marketing - Know and Respect Your Audience!

We all want to be "free" when creating art, but we also want our work to be loved by a large audience. So should artists think about their audience's needs and wishes when creating their work?

If you want to be understood you have to speak the language of your audience.

I'm a writer and a hobby artist. I'm also an internet marketing manager. And as such I know that if you dream of building a large audience (which every artist does, let's be honest here) you have to start with your "product". If there generally aren't many people interested in the kind of work you do you have no right to complain about how little people care about your art. A "product" that is meant to be successful is always created with the "customer" in mind.

This, however, is the exact opposite of what people often consider "true art". Artists are expected to express themselves, completely ignoring what the audience wants. In fact, the audience is often considered uneducated and having a bad taste anyway. It's a very popular trope that an artist is doomed to be not understood by society.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Art and Personal Experience - How Much Do You Need to Know?

Life would be boring if art dealt only with everyday life. We want art to be exciting, we want our characters to face hardships we never faced ourselves. But how can we create art around something we have no idea about?

If you lack personal experience: Do research!

How much personal experience does an artist need in order to create good art? This question has bothered me ever since I started writing. There was so much I wanted to write about, but being a teenager, there was so little I knew.

I still don't know much. But certainly more than fourteen years ago. And so this is what I came to believing during the past years. Please do argue with me, if you disagree:

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Summer Break!

It's nice and warm outside and I'm exhausted from all my countless projects. This means it's time for a few weeks of timeout to gather strength and new, fresh ideas.

I wish you all a great summer. The next post on this blog is scheduled for July 20th.

Yours,
Feael Silmarien