Creativity – The Talent myth and craft

Creativity, what is it ? Where does it come from ? Psychologically, we’re all born with the potential to be creative, but some are just better at it than others, why ? 

Creativity is all around us, everywhere we look. Coffee mugs, lampshades etc. Have all been through a thought out process to get where they are now as we see them. Creativity is needed to make the idea unique and thus successful.   Specially in the video games industry, there is no point releasing the same thing over and over again, because people will just get bored…

Kinda makes me wonder why people are still buying  Call of Duty games.

The need to be creative is something we use every day, with family, friends or at work etc. But what is creativity, I suppose a good definition would be, a process in which a person ‘creates’ something new which has value and/or meaning to others. A solution, artwork… life ?  

We basically rely on existing bodies of knowledge to apply an appropriate solution to a problem, the more fluent, flexible and original ideas that are imagineered, the more creative that person is considered to be.

But can creativity just be based on problem solving, is there a right or wrong answer ? Do we really have to rely on knowledge to be able to be creative.

‘Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, the art is know which ones to keep’ – Scott Adams

You could call an artist’s painting one big mistake, layers and layers or brush strokes over one another, kept only by artistic judgment; freedom is presented without the need to be exact. Looking at work by Egon Shiela, he expresses the human form with such elongated characteristics, it’s not strictly speaking correct ! But it is still a work of art, a spark of creativity; His own interpretation of the human figure.  

This is where craft comes into the equation, the ability to express an idea. You might have possibly come up with the perfect song in your head, but don’t physically have the right skills to express it.

My friend for instance, is great at improvising solos on the guitar, instinctively knows what note to hit next, when and for how long. I’m absolutely useless at this so I tend to take the approach of trial by error until it sounds good

Anyway, craft is a skill, which can be taught and developed. Some people could be considered naturally good at painting ‘oh he’s got an eye for it ‘ but generally the more you do something, the easier it becomes to learn, and repeat.

Being creative has two sides to it which doesn’t work without one another. First off all you need the initial idea, this might be great but useless you have the skills to express it, little is going to be achieved.

Whilst you can broaden your mind, Imagineering ideas is something which comes naturally to us. Unlike craft (which can also come naturally) but can also be developed.