FROM ABROAD: MARCOS CHIN-THE FREELANCE'S DISCIPLINE

Un'altro interessante articolo scritto da Florencia Varela dal sito the99percent.com 
Marcos Chin racconta di come riesce a mantenere vivo l'entusiasmo per il suo lavoro attraverso la ricerca di nuovi stimoli e la collaborazione con altre persone e soprattutto come riesce a gestire l'ansia tipica del freelance del non poter prevedere il flusso futuro di lavoro, quindi la tendenza a lavorare a capofitto ogni giorno senza concedersi una tregua accettando qualsiasi lavoro e rischiando così di abbassare la qualità delle sue illustrazioni. Agli stacanovisti Marcos consiglia di prendersi un giorno di vacanza dal lavoro per vivere esperienze da cui ricavare nuova ispirazione. Lui assicura che gioverà al nostro lavoro... e io gli credo!

Marcos Chin is one of the most well known illustrators in North America. His illustrations have been featured in diverse advertisements, fashion catalogs, and magazines including Time, Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated. The Toronto native graduated from the Ontario College of Art and now teaches Fashion Illustration at New York's School of Visual Arts.



In order to remain focused on both his commercial and personal work, Chin aims for a healthy balance. He explains, "To me (they) are not mutually exclusive. During slower periods of work, I spend a few hours plotting down any ideas that I might have into my sketchbook, ideas that might inspire a new drawing or painting later on. I think it's important for creative professionals to do this, to explore new parts of themselves and thus meaning in their artwork, in order to grow. As a result, I have recently enrolled in night classes, taking a silk screening course and a fine art painting class because I was beginning to feel that my drawings were flatlining in some capacity - I had begun to lose interest in what I was doing, so by trying something new that was art related, I became (re)engaged in my own (commercial) work again."

Collaboration plays a significant role in Chin's projects. He explains the process, "Art directors call me to create an illustration in order to (visually) communicate an idea that they have already conceived of and approved with the client. So in other words, they are the ones who establish the creative concept. Following that, I try to come up with a creative solution to meet their needs... I think having another set of eyes and brain to work on a project can add extra insight and provide alternatives in solving a problem that might not be apparent when you're working alone."

While new collaborations and projects are enriching for any artist, sometimes you must say "no." As Chin explains, "One thing that I have realized is that it is okay to say "no" to clients. It was a difficult behavior for me to learn: how to say 'no,' but it was necessary because I was beginning to become overwhelmed by work and eventually by taking every project that came my way, the quality of my pictures began to diminish."

To all ambitious and over-committed freelancing creative professionals, Chin recommends taking a day off. In his own words, "Until recently I found that I was working everyday, and that my work days had no structure... There is always this fear as a freelancer that you never know when the next job is going to come, or if your phone might stop ringing. Still, it's necessary to take a break from your work. You need to experience things in life and hopefully become inspired by them in order to become a better artist. I believe taking a break gives a person a fresh perspective and helps to keep them (and the viewer) engaged in their craft and their pictures."

alcune illustrazioni di Marcos Chin...

FROM ABROAD: DEVELOPING YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE

Per quelli che comprendono anche l'inglese posto qui un articolo che ho trovato interessantissimo su the99percent.com

Vi è mai capitato di avere una intuizione geniale in un momento inatteso in cui l'ultima cosa cui stavate pensando era il lavoro? Magari durante una bella doccia rilassante improvvisamente PUFF! ecco che il pensiero prende forma! E Brian Eno, compositore, musicista e produttore ha cercato di capire le dinamiche psicologiche inconscie della concentrazione e del conseguente rilassamento necessari ad innescare il processo creativo. Ma come stimolarlo consapevolmente? Il punto fondamentale del lavorare non è produrre continuamente ottimi risultati bensì tenersi pronti per il momento in cui questi arrivano, lavorare mantiene il cervello allenato e nella forma mentale pronta a ricevere l'attimo creativo in cui tutto quello che hai rielaborato nel tempo d'improvviso collide generando il capolavoro.  Il mestiere acquisito è ciò che ti permette di avere successo anche quando manca la vera ispirazione, che giunge, secondo lui, piuttosto raramente. Eno sottolinea anche l'importanza fondamentale del prendere una pausa per far sì che tutto il materiale che occupa la nostra mente venga metabolizzato a livello inconscio e si definisca così spontaneamente la via da percorrere. Restare perennemente "svegli" e consapevoli non permette che il processo creativo si completi, l'ispirazione non dipende dal controllo ma al contrario è spontanea. Ci sono un sacco di modi, secondo lui, per interferire con il processo creativo:

• la raccolta libera e spontanea di stimoli, idee, risorse senza pretese o editing
• uno stato mentale vuoto da preconcetti, il processo creativo deve sorgere spontaneamente
• imporre deliberatamente delle limitazioni prima di iniziare, ad esempio durata, dimensioni ecc nelle quali sviluppare liberamente la creatività
• contrapporre le forze, sperimentare collaborazioni di mezzi, persone e idee completamente diverse che dalla loro diversità possono far emergere un risultato del tutto inedito e una nuova prospettiva creativa
• usare suggerimenti creativi per incoraggiare un nuovo modo di affrontare il processo creativo ad es "Rovescialo a testa in giù", "Usa una vecchia idea", "Considera solo una parte, non l'interezza" ...

Alla fine Eno consiglia di non sottovalutare le nostre personali sensazioni rispetto ad un progetto: "Quasi tutte le cose che faccio degne di un qualche merito all'inizio sono semplicemente divertenti"

DEVELOPING YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE: TIPS FROM BRIAN ENO by Scott McDowell

Current neuroscience research confirms what creatives intuitively know about being innovative: that it usually happens in the shower. After focusing intently on a project or problem, the brain needs to fully disengage and relax in order for a “Eureka!” moment to arise. It’s often the mundane activities like taking a shower, driving, or taking a walk that lure great ideas to the surface. Composer Steve Reich, for instance, would ride the subway around New York when he was stuck.Science journalist Jonah Lehrer, referencing a landmark neuroscience study on brain activity during innovation, writes:

“The relaxation phase is crucial. That’s why so many insights happen during warm showers. … One of the surprising lessons of this research is that trying to force an insight can actually prevent the insight.”

The ebb and flow of concentrated focus and total disengagement has been a subject of particular interest to the composer, musician, and producer Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads, Roxy Music). Drawing on interviews from throughout Eno’s career, Eric Tamm’s book, Brian Eno: His Music and The Vertical Sound of Color, delves deeply into Eno’s “creative process.” Eno himself calls it:

...a practice of some kind ... It quite frequently happens that you’re just treading water for quite a long time. Nothing really dramatic seems to be happening. … And then suddenly everything seems to lock together in a different way. It’s like a crystallization point where you can’t detect any single element having changed. There’s a proverb that says that the fruit takes a long time to ripen, but it falls suddenly ... And that seems to be the process.

While neuroscience hasn’t yet been able to develop a foolproof scientific system to spark creativity, an artistic practice, if developed, can grease the wheels for more frequent and higher quality creative moments. As Eno puts it:  

“The point about working is not to produce great stuff all the time, but to remain ready for when you can.” 

He continues:

There’s no point in saying, ‘I don’t have an idea today, so I’ll just smoke some drugs.’ You should stay alert for the moment when a number of things are just ready to collide with one another... The reason to keep working is almost to build a certain mental tone, like people talk about body tone. You have to move quickly when the time comes, and the time might come very infrequently – once or twice a year, or even less.

Craft, he says, “enables you to be successful when you’re not inspired.” He goes on:

The difficulty of always feeling that you ought to be doing something is that you tend to undervalue the times when you’re apparently doing nothing, and those are very important times. It’s the equivalent of the dream time, in your daily life, times when things get sorted out and reshuffled. If you’re constantly awake work-wise you don’t allow that to happen. One of the reasons I have to take distinct breaks when I work is to allow the momentum of a particular direction to run down, so that another one can establish itself.

Throughout his career, Eno has used a grab bag of tools to assist the creative process. “There are lots of ways that you can interfere with it and make it more efficient.”

1. Freeform capture. Grab from a range of sources without editorializing. According to Tamm, one of Eno’s tactics “involves keeping a microcassette tape recorder on hand at all times and recording any stray ideas that hit him out of the blue – a melody, a rhythm, a verbal phrase.” He’ll then go through and look for links or connections, something that can form the foundation for a new piece of music.

2. Blank state. Start with new tools, from nothing, and toy around. For example, Eno approaches this by entering the recording studio with no preconceived ideas, only a set of instruments or a few musicians and “just dabble with sounds until something starts to happen that suggests a texture.” When the sound texture evokes a memory or emotion that impression then takes over in guiding the process.

3. Deliberate limitations. Before a project begins, develop specific limitations. Eno’s example: “this piece is going to be three minutes and nineteen seconds long and it’s going to have changes here, here and here, and there’s going to be a convolution of events here, and there’s going to be a very fast rhythm here with a very slow moving part over the top of it.”

4. Opposing forces. Sometimes it’s best to generate a forced collision of ideas. Eno would “gather together a group of musicians who wouldn’t normally work together.” Dissimilar background and approaches can often evoke fresh thinking.

5. Creative prompts. In the ‘70s Eno developed his Oblique Strategies cards, a series of prompts modeled after the I Ching to disrupt the process and encourage a new way of encountering a creative problem. On the cards are statements and questions like: “Would anybody want it?” “Try faking it!” “Only a part, not the whole.” “Work at a different speed.” “Disconnect from desire.” “Turn it upside down.” “Use an old idea.” These prompts are a method of generating specifics, which most creatives respond favorably to.

In the end, don’t underestimate your personal feelings about a project. Eno states:  
“Nearly all the things I do that are of any merit at all start off as just being good fun.” 
Amen to that.

--> Download Eric Tamm’s Brian Eno e-book for free

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How Do You Spark Creative Breakthroughs?

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Scott McDowell works with business leaders and creative teams to ease collaboration. He's also a DJ at WFMU.