can you imagen if that did mean hitting someone with shit though, that wouldnt be nice.

unless that was the persons bag

anyways i might not of read your post properly, but what creativness are you into , i think i might have seen from a diff thread your a singer? but i might be imagening that

As a photographer, I have long since discarded the need to be original. It's detrimental to how happy you can be with your work. I think too much emphasis is put on being clever with your ideas too. When someone is genuinely smart, and produces an amazing photo, it's good. But a plain photo taken well can be equally as enticing.

Contrary to what you might think, whatever you do, you have your own style, there are 6 billion people in the world, there are going to be similarities. You might see your work as drawing off others, but it's because you know the ones you are drawing form. Your friends will tell you if things are good or not, trust them.

Gig photography, while a skill involves no creativeness on it's own. Sometimes a good photo can lend itself to photoshop well though.
Model photography, well, there are only so many ways you can be nekkid. So once again, it comes down to using your skills.
Macro photography, everything looks god close up

I agree with most of what has already been said.

I would reiterate that being creative and being good don't have to go together. Almost by definition there is no way of judging whether something you create is good or not until afterwards - and if the creating part is fun, the result doesn't really matter.

Also I find if I get blocked with an endeavour, it often helps to go off and do something entirely different that is still a conduit for expression. In the most short term sense this can mean putting down the guitar/pen/whatever and going and making something nice for dinner or building a new henhouse.

One thing I am certain of, for myself at least, is that trying to force creativity is counter-productive. Back when I was a musician for a living i ended up doing this and the results were ugly and I ended up stopping playing music at all for more than ten years.

Finally, i would say there is no great imperative that Thou Shalt Be Creative and Original all the time. Between looking after and schooling kids, working, studying, tending the livestock and all the other daily flimflam, my music time is often pretty limited. I tend to split it between practising technique and just playing along to records i like. My plans for an epic bouzouki-Thrash opera based on the yearnings of an intellectual dishcloth to escape the confines of the narrow-minded strictures of the sink, entitled "Absorber the Sponge", seldom progress much because my brain is usually too exhausted for creative thought by that stage of the day. That doesn't stop me having fun with my instrument though. Or enjoying playing the guitar.

As long as you're not having to create things for a living, to a deadline, then I don't think there's much cause to worry about a "dry spell". If there's no pressure to create, then don't worry about it, you'll just make it worse.

My main creative outlets are programming computer games and writing music. I don't write music that I take seriously, but at the same time it is a creative outlet for me. I'll often go through periods of a couple of months where I don't really have any inspiration, or just don't have the urge to do either of these things.

My solution is not to force myself. If I don't want to do it, I won't do it. I'll just leave it until something inspires me. Sometimes that takes a couple of days, sometimes it takes a couple of months. Better that way, than to burn myself out trying to do something I'm not in the mood for, just for the sake of it.

When it comes to writing music, I generally record riff ideas that come to me, and keep them stored on my computer to listen to later (generally months later). 90% of them will be total bollocks, or really derivative, but if I find a few that I like later, than that generally inspires me to write something.

can you imagen if that did mean hitting someone with shit though, that wouldnt be nice.

unless that was the persons bag

anyways i might not of read your post properly, but what creativness are you into , i think i might have seen from a diff thread your a singer? but i might be imagening that

Heehee, it would be pretty gross. mental images heehe.

uhm I don't really feel like I have a particular creative section, apart from just making up clothes. I enjoy photography, painting, drawing, modeling, singing, although trying to get the confidence to sing infront of people is hard. I'd love to try exapand to more creative horizons too, blending and mixing all sorts of medias.

Oh and I know I don't have to be orginal and creative all the time. I have a lot of stuff which is just doodles and whatever. It's jsut I seem to have this weird, internal quest or desire or something, where I just /have/ to do something... Different. I don't know why or what it is, I've been that way since I remember. Think I'm the demented sheep in the family.

Also, don't worry about being in the middle. Be humbled.
I feel this way all the time with my music and my band. There is always going to be someone better than you.
Don't look at them like, "Oh, I will never be that good". Look at it as, "Look how good I will be".

I like this. It makes sense. I've been thinking a lot actually since Dev said maybe the middle is ulitimate...

I really wanna respond more to people but it'll have to wait. Class is soon and my brain is frazzled trying to keep up with the thoughts of infinity and how women were treated towards art movements... Heeheehee.

can you imagen if that did mean hitting someone with shit though, that wouldnt be nice.

unless that was the persons bag

anyways i might not of read your post properly, but what creativness are you into , i think i might have seen from a diff thread your a singer? but i might be imagening that

Heehee, it would be pretty gross. mental images heehe.

uhm I don't really feel like I have a particular creative section, apart from just making up clothes. I enjoy photography, painting, drawing, modeling, singing, although trying to get the confidence to sing infront of people is hard. I'd love to try exapand to more creative horizons too, blending and mixing all sorts of medias.

Oh and I know I don't have to be orginal and creative all the time. I have a lot of stuff which is just doodles and whatever. It's jsut I seem to have this weird, internal quest or desire or something, where I just /have/ to do something... Different. I don't know why or what it is, I've been that way since I remember. Think I'm the demented sheep in the family.

cool , someone said to me that cause i do lots of different types of music i am Indisive (dunno how to spell that) but i think its more spread out the influnces to give them their own merit insted of trying to write a 14 minute classical, 8bit, death metal acoustic song . so with you doing all your different things insted of limiting yourself to one or two things i think thats cool, you can never do to much when it comes to creativity

Wow, what I wouldn't give to get a personal compliment/reassurance from the Dev himself... lucky lucky. And I definitely know that feeling... that internal need for being/making something different. That's probably just the quintessential sign of creativity. And also that whole nervous-about-singing-in-front-of-people feeling. Been getting better at that lately, though.

Its okay Feehan, I can;'t spell either. Or type. But yeah I enjoy having bits of everything, otherwise I just get bored. I also think tis good to keep your mind open to new things.

And you do singing too Purple Phoenix? What sorta singing do you do?

Existence in itself is a paradox. How is it possible that existence has ALWAYS been (infinity) but how could the existent have come from the non-existent(beginning to an end)? You can apply this to creativity as well. Was there ever a first person who created music or has music ALWAYS been? But ask yourself this, why did rap not exist over 50 years ago? Of course we can say that rap has come from earlier styles such as R&B and even jazz, but rap itself did not exist before...Let's say you are about to make a song and you want it to be "original". Some people say you have to forget everything you have about other types of music to have an original thought. But then, how can you create something off of which you have no starting point of? Trying to make music by forgetting music? Even if you deal strictly with music theory and such, or even create your own music theory, you're still limited to pretty much what every other musician has ever been limited by. There's only a certain spectrum that the human ear can hear and that's all you have to work with. Music is always changing and I wouldn't know if it is possible to have truly original thought. When you think of music, there is a supposedly infinite amount of ways that you can rearrange frequencies (notes) and rhythms and when you add words to the mix, you get an even bigger amount of possibilities. But infinity? I don't know...Take your own existence for example. Is your own life infinite? Can you remember when you DIDN'T exist? If you can't remember, then haven't you always existed? Common sense says no... I think the best answer is that there is no answer...There is no way ANYONE can substantiate the idea of original thought, infinity, or even god for that matter...Well at least in my opinion.

But how do I cope with this mindset? I try not to think about it and I don't think you should become stressed about it. Several months ago, i was convinced that existence was pointless I did not have free will. I suffered a nervous breakdown and became ill for about a month...If you've ever read Frankenstein, I felt exactly like Victor. Slowly, I began to realize that all my anxiety was pointless and I tried to remember when I used to be convinced that I had free will and I felt like life had a point. Although I don't think you can substantiate a reason for life, or prove that there is a reason for that matter, I simply don't think about it and if you're concerned about your mental health and stability, I would advise that you do the same. Philosophize at your own risk!

Existence in itself is a paradox. H-...

sorry, I didn't hear the next bit.

Usually I just sing to myself while I'm working, singing along with whatever music is on, etc. Especially when I'm feeling very expressive and failing to do what I want artistically... kind of frustrating when I can't hit the high/screamy notes though. I'm also part of an a capella group (Oral Fixation) at my college, and I'm currently trying to decide which DT song to arrange for singing with the group...

God i hate the dry spots... its so annoying

Up until the other week i had a rather long one...

I love writing music/lyrics and making art (more digital though)... but almost ALWAYS... im never 100% happy. Even if i think its the best song ive ever written, and all my friends love it, i still have a weird sense of incompleteness inside me...

I often feel a bit crappy... cus, music really means so much to me (i know, i know...)
And the thought of never getting anywhere with it is horrible... cus i do feel like i have some sort of talent (i hate that, sounds so big headed...) (also makes me seem like a n00b who is actually extemely crap and cant hear the reality of my own stuff)...

One day i'll post some stuff... hopefully some people here would like it

I dont know what i do to 'cope' though...

Sometimes i feel really happy with stuff i've done, and feel confident that in 10 years time when ive got some full albums recorded, maybe i'll have myspace with what... 10,000 plays!!! ..which would be awesome to me, lol
But other times i feel like a failure...

One thing i always imagine, is me doing all the vocals for my own stuff... I've been a vocalist/guitarist in a couple of bands and its been ok... and i just really hate the thought of somebody else singing my 'personal' lyrics, it just has more feeling coming from the guy himself i think... but then i listen to Storm, and i realise, how average i am... cus those vocals are so fucking insane, absolutely unbelievable... and i cant get that much emotion and power from myself

Maybe i should try some vocal lessons... sometimes i think it might work... other times i just think my body physically cannot produce anymore than what im already doing

Kinda gone off subject, sorry, for the pointless post... dont really know where i was going with that...

Wow, I just glimpsed at this thread - some very impressive and deep answers indeed, as well as a personal Devin pop-in too! Awesome.


Well I guess the funny thing about life is, it throws you curve balls, it's hard at times; but at times it can surprise you with much happiness and luck. Dry spells? Lulls? It happens. It's nothing to do with your creativity, it just happens to everyone - I believe it happens more in particularly creative people, because they're so aware of such things.


Good luck, you'll do fine. No one's supposed to be on their way to the top and figured out at 18/19/20 or at any early age, really

Perhaps the problem with any creative person- musician, artist, writer, etc. is that the reason they are what they are is because of inspiration... and that which inspires will always be greater than the person it inspires, be it an emotion, a natural wonder, or another talented person and their own creative works. Just hypothesizing, since it seems every creative person I know (save a few arrogant ones) seem dissatisfied with their own work, claiming it doesn't express the feeling adequately, or that it will never live up to someone else's work. Thus is the plight of the artist?

[swervedriver]

Lack of inspiration or dry spells or whatever you want to call it will happen to everyone. I'm sort of in one for a while now. For a little background: I play guitar in a band, write some songs both for that band as well as just for myself (in the latter case usually with pre-recorded samples; much easier and faster, and I'm not looking for perfection, just some fun/relaxation), also becoming 3rd vocalist (2nd backing vocals? whatever...). Apart from putting some final touches on previous ideas I don't think I've written anything worthwhile for more than a year. Last thing I finished was a song for the band for which I also wrote the lyrics. That was my first time writing lyrics, and I made them about dealing with some terrible event so not the lightest of topics, lol. For me personally it was an outlet and a way to talk about being a cancer survivor, which was what I had become at that time (and obviously still am, hehe). Apparently that sapped the inspiration for a while, also because it took a lot of effort to get the whole song to convey the message I intended (still unsure if it does, but I've run out of improvement options ) . Enter dry spell.

How to deal with it? I dunno, just accept it and be patient; it'll come back. Right now I'm working on a sort of hardcore/house song. It's a total joke, but it amuses me to no end. I don't call that inspiration; it doesn't take a lot to create something cheesy and noisy. Sometimes I sit down and play guitar for a few hours and see if anything comes up (I have some decent ideas I'd like to continue with), but nothing so far. Maybe tomorrow.

As for being mediocre, I recognise that one. I know my way around a guitar, but I'm by no means a great player. Still, I enjoy what I CAN play; when I'm playing with the band I really enjoy what we as 3 mediocre musicians can produce. (A select few) Others can too, even though our songs may not be that good. I think I'm quite content being mediocre. What (I think) I'm trying to say is you shouldn't compare your art (whether you make/write music, paint, write novels, ...) to whatever else is out there. What you make is subjective and personal; if you like/enjoy what you made, then it shouldn't matter whether it may be deemed mediocre or bad or super-special-awesome.

To end this ramble (which I could carry on for a while longer, too) with a cliche: you are unique, just like everybody else. And I seem to have an obsession with parentheses, sorry about that.