What’s Creative?
filed in Design: Graphic Design on Feb.07, 2006
What’s creative mean? What does it mean to be creative? or worse yet, what does it mean to be A creative? I hate when people say, “oh, he’s a creative.” Since when did creative become a noun? I think a lot of times people who have talents in the arts are automatically labeled as being creative. Does ARTISTIC always equal CREATIVE? I say no.
Paint by number? Not creative.
I think it’s a given that people who are not artistic can be creative. Mathematicians, engineers & scientists have to be creative in order to continually develop new theories and figure out ways to improve our lives – but most of those professions don’t make you think of Picasso or Dali. But if you ARE artistic… if you have the ability to draw, paint, sculpt, sing, dance, act, or write… this does not automatically make one creative. I think creativity is a whole different muscle.
I rarely think of myself as being especially creative, yet I’ve been told I was since the day someone realized I could draw – and it seems like this declaration was based solely on my artistic talents. All through high school as my drawing and painting got better and all through art school as I was groomed into a designer I was told how creative I am. Frankly, I don’t see it. I work hard to be creative.
To create something – to be truly creative – is to dream up something from nothing.
I rarely dream up something without using outside influences of things that already exist. I believe that makes my creation less creative than the person who dreamed up their creation from thin air. Now, to be honest, that doesn’t have any bearing on the quality or value of the creation… the idea that was created from nothing may just plain suck… it’s just more creative.
I think my hang-up comes from the fact that I value very highly those who can truly think and act creatively. I don’t think you should be called “a creative” based solely on your job description.
Do you consider yourself creative? Why or why not? Have you even ever thought about what makes someone creative?
February 7th, 2006 on 3:28 pm
wow..when you asked “why or why not?” i was transported directly back to high school history class. uggghhh
i’ve also been told i was creative, and i had no idea what they are talking about. I can’t make up anything. stories, games, nicknames, whatever..i can’t do it. Maybe i’m just good at mooching off of other people’s creativeness….
February 7th, 2006 on 3:42 pm
i’m not sure that any human being can really create something from nothing. we are composites of external influences: genetics, relationships, nationality, whatever, and i can’t imagine that even the most creative of people would come up with a new idea that has nothing to do with what has influenced them in some way, conscious or otherwise. yes, there are those who, through talent or luck, seem to be better at creating something that appears completely new and unattached to what has come before, but i find it hard to believe that their idea sprung up from a creative clean slate. if making something from nothing is the creative criteria, then i would say that only God fits the bill.
i agree with you whole-heartedly about good mathematicians and scientists, and it’s a good question you posed about what really makes someone creative. creativity manifests itself in so many different ways that i would be hard-pressed to say that any individual is NOT creative. it kind of follows parallel to the idea of emotional intelligences–some are creative musically, some socially, some criminally, but they’re all creative. maybe we all have the capacity to be creative in one or various ways, and some have either chosen to or found themselves in circumstances that highlight those inherent abilities. if God is the final word in creativity, and we’re made in his image, i’d like to think that we’re all pretty creative.
February 7th, 2006 on 5:19 pm
Great question. TIME magazine just published a story on “The Creative Mind”. Their conclusion was that creative people aren’t any different than “non-creative” people. Everyone is creative in their own way, some just work harder at it. (in a nutshell.)
Unfortunately I can’t gather my thoughts enough to post an insightful response to your question. I need to come up with three creative ideas by tomorrow at 8am and I only have one. Creativity on-demand is a whole other issue I struggle with…
February 8th, 2006 on 8:03 am
I cannot help but approach this from a theological/faith standpoint. As someone has already mentioned, God is the ultimate creator. His nature is to bring forth something, from nothing.
But as humans, I believe we are made in the ‘imago Dei’ or ‘image of God’ and he has instilled in us this creative urge, and creative ability.
This is by no means limited to artistic endeavors, as Kenny and other have said. We are able to create human beings, we are able to create ideas, and realities with our words. We are able to create incredible devices specifically for “uncreating” people and buildings. Out innate creative ability is a gift from God that, like any other gift, can be incredibly abused.
So, to sum up. All people are creative, because all people are made in the image of God. How they express that creativity, or not, is the key.
February 8th, 2006 on 11:56 am
I agree with Alisa and Greg. Although, I have a hard time recognizing and validating how I express my own creativity.
February 8th, 2006 on 1:22 pm
This debate is running around in several circles. Does this mean, as you assert, that this blog posting isn’t creative? Wink…
I was watching an episode of Dinner for Five on the Independent Film Channel last night and the topic of “credit” came up. For screenwriters, they are only credited in a film if they dramatically alter the structure of a script. A writer can be brought in to fix crucial errors, to completely rewrite entire scenes, or to breathe life into the dialogue but unless they change the direction of a story, they are nonexistent when the credits roll. Sure, the assistant to the assistant hairdresser is listed but (because the Writer’s Guild of America is one of the weakest unions) only the “structural” screenwriters are listed. I experienced this first hand when I did script work on two different tv movies last year. I was brought in during production and did major work on the final product. In one case, I literally rewrote two pivotal scenes from the ground up (and one of these scenes was shown on a recent awards show). But because I didn’t change the storyline, I wasn’t credited. What does this mean? I didn’t come up with (create) the concept of either movie but I did come up with creative solutions to huge problems in the movie. It’s funny but when I think of these two projects, I don’t think of myself as being “artistic” because I was dealing with the mechanics, nitty gritty details of the scripts. I agonized over every single word of dialogue with literal scene “formulas” drawn out on chalkboards ala calculus theorums. But I certainly felt creative as I struggled to take a broken scene and transform it into something that worked, something that was a piece of art.
I believe that creative is about approach. Almost everything – be it film, graphic design, or mathematical theories – is based on a predecessor. But what do you do with the raw material/inspiration? Do you simply repackage it or do you spin it on its head? I think a good example of this is cooking. I don’t know of anyone inventing new ingredients so, using a strict interpretation of your definition, one could argue that no chefs today can be “creative”. But when a chef takes Asian spices and infuses them to Latin dishes or combines flavors & ingredients to create an unexpected palette, it is a creative approach to cooking. Meanwhile, artistic cooking (in my opinion) is thinking about the aesthetics. In other words, will the dish appeal to all the senses?
I concur with your statement that artistry and creativity are two different realms. But I don’t believe that creativity can be quantified as being “more” or “less” simply by measuring how much of the idea is new. That is where another realm comes in: originality.
February 8th, 2006 on 1:35 pm
Wow, I really appreciate each and every one of these comments. Great stuff to think about…
Rai, I really respond to the “originality” factor being absent from my line of thinking. Thanks for that.
I also want to affirm the fact that I never meant to imply that creativity is only existant in the founding of something purely original. Of course almost every creation is a product of past experiences. I also did not mean to imply that I believe some people are not creative at all. I agree that we all have the potential to be creative within us. Just that some people tap into that creativity deeper than others.
And, of course, the original direction of my blog was to rail against those who are labeled as “creative types” simply because they hold a career position as an artisan. I’ve met many copywriters who were anything BUT original and creative. Same goes for designers, photographers and art directors.
February 9th, 2006 on 7:40 am
I never thought you were very creative Kenny.
February 9th, 2006 on 8:05 am
Thanks man. Really.
February 10th, 2006 on 10:16 pm
This may not be a very creative thing to say, but I’m diggin’ the new blog design, Kenny!