#creative development

[rqbossman]

Hi Mr. Bossman!

TMA has made me so much happier in so many ways since I started listening to it, and has quite possibly altered my brain chemistry and the trajectory of my life (not what I was expecting when I started listening to the funky horror fiction podcast my roommate recommended to me, but here we are), so I wanted to extend a thanks to you and everyone else who worked on the show for creating such a phenomenal work.

One of the things I loved most about listening was how much fun everyone was having and how close you all seemed in bonus content/qnas/etc.. Creative work, especially writing, has always been very solitary for me, and though that's nice at times! it can be disheartening, too.

I'm starting at university in the fall, and I'm really hoping to change that, so... Any advice on making friends/building community/starting collaborative projects when it comes to creative work?

Thank you again!! and have a wonderful rest of your day :D

Hey, Lovely to hear and I am happy to be your well meaning but slightly out of touch uncle for the topic. Advice for making a creative community at University: 1) Buy a door stop. If you are staying on campus prop your door open the day you move in. People will wander corridors of closed fire doors looking to meet people. Yours will be the open door and you can immediately turn your room into a social hub/ point of reference. 2) Join every society that even vaguely tickles your interest (unless they expect major fees/dues up front in which case be more reserved). Attend them all at first then let them atrophy naturally. The stuff you actually want to do will rise to the top and the rest will drop off. You'll be left with a broader palette of contacts and interests. 3) Befriend the STEM nerds. Every gang of engineers is looking for a fun humanities pet and most of those groups will have at least one person who secretly wishes they were doing something creative. That will be your go-to tech person in the future, I guarantee it. 4) Do a sport but don't let it consume your time. Not just good for your health, it will pair you with people you wouldn't normally meet and give a schema of shared interest to make convo easier. This is where you are most likely to meet your wild-card contact (i.e. someone you couldn't ever plan to meet who turns out to be essential due to their connections or whatever.) 5) Learn hard skills. Lighting, sound, electronics etc. This is the easiest time you have to get these skills and having them immediately makes you more resilient as a creator both financially and in terms of insight moving forwards. 6) Accept as much useful responsibility as you can easily handle. i.e. being a visual artist who is secretary of the Art Club = useful and helpful. Being a visual artist who is a treasurer for the cocktail society = less so. Some responsibility is important but remember there is an opportunity cost. Every position of responsibility you take precludes you from another. So choose them don't just drift into them. Bonus: Don't shave your head for a performance role 2 weeks into semester. No-one will recognise you and everyone will avoid you. TRUST ME. As always, your mileage may vary. I am a neurospicy bunny who made a personal study of how to socialise like a human, I am NOT an expert, guru or trained proffesional in this field.

[glowettee]

✧・゜: how i'm learning to trust my creative intuition :・゜✧:・゜✧

hey lovelies! ✨

i've been thinking a lot about creative intuition lately, that quiet inner voice that nudges you toward certain ideas or projects. for the longest time, i was absolutely terrible at listening to it. i'd get these little sparks of inspiration and immediately talk myself out of them. "that's been done before" or "you don't have the skills for that" or my personal favorite: "who do you think you are?"

sound familiar? thought so.

the thing is, i've slowly been learning that my intuition actually knows what it's talking about. those random ideas that pop into my head at 2am or while i'm in the shower? they're not random at all, they're my creative compass trying to guide me toward what truly lights me up.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ recognizing intuition vs. fear ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

the first big challenge was learning to tell the difference between my intuition and my fear. they can sound weirdly similar sometimes!

my intuition tends to feel like excitement mixed with certainty, like "yes! this!" even when it makes no logical sense. it feels light and expansive, like opening a window in a stuffy room.

fear, on the other hand, feels heavy and contracted. it comes with a lot of "shoulds" and worrying about what other people will think. it's the voice that compares my chapter 1 to someone else's chapter 20.

i started keeping track of when these different voices would speak up, and slowly got better at recognizing which was which.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ creating space to listen ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

intuition doesn't shout. it whispers. and in our noisy, constantly-connected world, those whispers can get completely drowned out.

i realized i needed to create actual space to hear myself think. for me, that looks like:

morning pages: three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing before looking at my phone

solo walks without podcasts or music (just me and my thoughts)

intentional boredom: staring out windows, lying on the floor, letting my mind wander

reducing input before trying to create output (no scrolling before creative sessions)

it's amazing what starts to bubble up when you're not constantly drowning it out with other people's voices and ideas.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ the "stupid idea" notebook ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

one of the most helpful tools has been my "stupid idea" notebook, a judgment-free zone where i write down every creative impulse, no matter how ridiculous it seems.

the name is intentionally silly to remind myself not to take it all so seriously. some ideas truly are stupid, and that's perfectly fine! but some turn out to be the beginnings of something meaningful.

the rule is simple: write it all down, evaluate later. this creates a safe space for intuition to speak without immediately being shut down by my inner critic.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ small intuition experiments ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

trusting your intuition is like building a muscle, you start small and work your way up.

i began with low-stakes creative decisions: which color to use in a drawing, which topic to write about in my journal, which route to take on my walk. when something felt intuitively "right," i'd go with it, even if i couldn't explain why.

gradually, i started trusting my intuition with bigger choices: which project to pursue, which opportunities to say yes to, which creative direction to explore.

with each small win, my confidence in my inner guidance grew stronger.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ embracing the "wrong" turns ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

here's the thing about intuition: sometimes it leads you down paths that seem to go nowhere. i've followed creative impulses that resulted in projects i never finished or ideas that didn't work out.

but i'm learning that these aren't failures, they're necessary detours. every "wrong" turn teaches me something i needed to learn or leads me to connections i wouldn't have made otherwise.

intuition isn't finding the most direct path; it's finding YOUR path, with all its twists and surprises.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ letting go of external validation ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

perhaps the hardest part of trusting my creative intuition has been detaching from external validation. when you follow your intuition, you might create things that don't immediately resonate with others or fit neatly into what's trending.

i'm still working on this one, honestly. but i've noticed that my most intuitive creations... the ones that felt most aligned with my inner voice, are ultimately the ones people connect with most deeply, even if the audience is smaller.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ a gentle practice ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

trusting your creative intuition isn't a destination, it's an ongoing practice. some days i'm better at it than others. sometimes fear still wins. but each time i choose to listen to that quiet inner knowing, it gets a little louder, a little clearer.

if you're struggling to trust your own creative voice, start small. create tiny spaces of silence. write down the whispers. follow the sparks of excitement. and be patient with yourself when you forget.

xoxo, mindy 🤍

[prancingnougat]

Creative Development, Characters + Worldbuilding!

Creative Development Discord Server!

Have you been building up a fantasy world in your mind and on paper for god-knows-how-long and are looking for others who can relate?

Are you maybe hashing out details about new characters for stories, roleplaying, or other creative projects?

Do you kinda just need a community where you can chill out, listen to music, maybe try a writing sprint, or just talk about anything to get your creative gears turning?

I help run a Discord server with channels dedicated to discussing all parts of the creative process. It's open to anyone at any skill level, from those just starting out to people on their way to publication. Right now, it's a cozy level of chatting and very casual, with writers coming in from all over the internet.

We're an LGBTQ+ and disability friendly community of fiction writers, roleplayers, dungeon crawlers, fanfic authors, and general creatives. We're mostly in it to encourage each other to put our voices out there and be heard, so there's always someone there to listen. Sections for NSFW content are available to those who need it, as well. Some events we run are: - Workshops and office hours, where your work can get another set of eyes reading your work. Grab some tea or coffee, enjoy some music, and get some dedicated focus on your latest work. - Writing sprints! Use our handy-dandy bot to track your time and progress and join in with others who are looking to crank out some work on the fly. - Nanowrimo check-ins, including a dedicated server where you can set up your own sub-thread for discussing projects. - DJ Night! Once a month we get together to all listen to music together. We try our best to encourage and practice constructive criticism, never destructive. There are also plenty of general discussion channels for everything from books, to TV, to games... and also #flavorton-abbey for all your random needs.

Creative Development Discord Server!

[samkeene]

BeachBall Success from new media artist Jon Satrom

[racconconnoisseur]

Batman the Animated Series (1997) Style Guide

[keranos-god-of-storm-crows]

A survey in creative development

Hey guys! This is the survey that I was talking about! It’s meant for people ages about 11-16! If you have kids or are within that age range I would really appreciate you completing the survey! It’s meant to help understand creative development in adolescents. The survey has about 100 questions. We’d be really thankful if you’d complete them all and it should only take up about 25 minutes at most.

This survey is being done by Jeremiah Piña at the University of Georgia. I’m the community manager for the study group (You guys!). The Survey is anonymous!

If you have any questions about the survey you can contact me or Jeremy at these email addresses respectively:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Thanks ahead of time! Please feel free to reblog!

[tomscholes]

Metapainting:process

Quick process GIF - Rolling back the canvas on one of my latest paintings until I could roll it back no more. This is one of many Branches and includes many “finished” paintings and several unfinished and previously unpublished sketches, each with their own similar process and Family Tree. More here: http://www.artofscholes.com/process-may-sketch-a-day-2016/