Casting a Glamour - Creating Message Driven Art with Beauty

A recent conversation with an activist led to some interesting thoughts. The gist of the conversation was that in order for activist art to be effective it had to be in your face, brutal and angry.

But my opinion is that angry art looses the viewer. Before the viewer ever has a chance to see the art they are already biased against it, no matter how effective the message might be within the art.

Intuition & Instinct - The 2 II's of a Successful Artist

Intuition and Instinct (2II) are not things that can be taught in school. Intuition and Instinct are things that take time to develop. Some people may think that instinct and intuition are basically the same thing, but their not. Intuition is the idea, instinct is the direction the idea takes.

Let me give you an example. I was recently working on a project with a piece of wood where it was necessary for effect to burn parts of the wood. Once I'd worked out the best way to achieve this, I began burning the wood. Suddenly my intuition pinged. It clearly said "watch this closely. There is something else here". So as I worked away at the project, part of me was also watching how the wood burned, what it looked like at various points in the burning and what other things might be achieved through it.

The Blurred Vision of the Artist

I watched a documentary about the Hubble Space Telescope and the repairs done several years ago to its vast lenses. One of the things they mentioned was that the lenses were scarred up and Hubble could not see as clearly into space as scientists wished. Yet, even with this blurry vision Hubble could still see further into space than any telescope before had ever done.

That is sometimes how artistic vision feels. When our lenses are clear the artist can see from here to eternity. We can conceive of amazing ideas for our work and see them clearly from start to finish.

Using Science to Boost Creativity - By Larry Mager (Guest Writer)

Image by PeteLinforth (via Pixabay)

When you are in the middle of the creative process, it may seem like something that is mystical or beyond reason. Visions of things you have never thought of before dance in your head and it must just be something magical coming from the universe, or is it? There is actually some very interesting science and reason behind creativity. Understanding exactly what makes you creative and activities you can do to get back to a more creative way of thinking starts with the science behind creativity.

What is creativity?

Understanding Storytelling in Art

Every piece of art tells a story. Some stories are very simple, others are so complicated that they become abstract. It is one thing to have the techniques of an artist and another to have the technique of storytelling. It's even harder to meld the two together seamlessly. But if you can compose the story in your mind, your art has the potential to become much more vibrant and interesting.

Take the Mona Lisa, for example. I recently read an article debating whether the Mona Lisa had syphilis. There are a thousand more tales about this mysterious lady. Every one of them is a story and every one of them stems from Da Vinci's ability to tell a story with every composition. He was the consummate storyteller and something that I think gets overshadowed by his also amazing techniques.