How Does The Creative Process Work, by Q. Reyes – Artistic Warfare #26

June 14, 2009 Q. Reyes 0 Comments

The creative process is not complicated. It’s simply the route we use to access our imagination. Some people use drugs, other people don’t. Some people watch porn, other people make porn. Regardless, we all get to access the thoughts that will or will not be seen by other people, at will, so it seems.

We all get our creative process to work in different ways, at times by taking action, other times by contemplating the present moment. My creative process varies, and it’s pretty crazy. Sometimes I’ll talk to myself, other times I’ll talk to my imaginary friends. I don’t like my imaginary friends too much, because they tell me to do things that I don’t agree with, and it impacts my productivity.

For example, one of my imaginary friends convinced me the other day to spend countless hours Googling “celebrity oops pictures”. This, even though bonded me and my imaginary friend deeply, was not a very good used of my time or Googling skills – because yes, I am the best Googler in the world. I can Google anything, from how to fry chicken to how to build a Mercedes Benz from scratch.

Back to the creative process, it’s important we recognize that the process, it’s an actual process. If we don’t do this, we’ll just think we get lucky every time we come up with something brilliant. Don’t be fearful of where this process takes you. Sometimes I think I’m really going crazy when I’m in a creative mode. The fact is I was crazy before the creative mode.

Find your rhythm. Are you a night person? A day person? A no time of the day person? This is important and you must act accordingly. Don’t feel guilty because all the time you have to be creative is the worse time during your day. Don’t be frustrated because you spend all your energy working at a dead end job you hate, and then you don’t have the power to let your creative juices flow. Let go of all of that – especially that miserable job.

We are all creative and we all need to be creative in order to survive. Don’t worry about who’s creating what and why, just worry about your own creative endeavor. Even accountants are creative – actually, being too creative sometimes, getting themselves in trouble. There’s only so much creativity in numbers.

It’s okay to be under the influence. A lot of people think they do their best work sober. FALSE. Maybe they do good work, but no their best work. Or maybe they do, who knows? The fact is that if a beer makes you paint better, then drink a beer. If two beers is your limit, though, don’t wake up the next day wondering why the hell you woke up lying naked on the canvas with paint all over your body and a brush up your ass. Know your limits, but explore those limits.

I like to sometimes have my mind clear, so that I can be certain that I’m doing a précised job. Other times, I like to be high on coffee or red bull. Other times I like to take a few tequila shots and see where that takes me creatively. There’s no right or wrong way to be creative, or how to get to that point.

Creating something happens constantly. We live in our minds a lot more than we live in our physical bodies. We daydream constantly and we are always imagining what the future is going to be like with whatever decisions we take at every moment.

To sum it all up, the creative process never ends. You’ve been in a creative process since you were born, and it will never stop until you die. All you have to do is recognize that this is taking place, and embrace it. It doesn’t matter what your occupation is or who you think you are.

Here are a few tips to start being creative right now:

Do something.
Do it now.
Make it better.
Make it better than that.
Don’t care what people think.
NEVER BE AFRAID TO DESTROY IT!

If you’re afraid of the destruction of your work, then you don’t have what it takes to create that work in the first place. Safeguarding whatever you think is great, is the death of the creation itself.

If you’re worried about a Golden Egg, then you’re not a Golden Goose.

Q. is sick and tired of people not recognizing that Sarah Palin is hot. Q. has never been able to pin it down, but David Letterman did for him: Sarah Palin is like that slutty flight attendant that you just wish will cause you some turbulence. Q. also enjoys long walks on the beach, and the occasional twitter update @qreyes