Are you most creative...

...when you're completely isolated and can focus only on your work, or when you have an active social life to inspire and energize you?

...in the morning, during the day, in the evening or late at night?

...as part of a creative team where you can offer feedback to each other or when you do everything yourself your own way?

...when you've set aside a limited amount of time purely dedicated to finishing your project or when you spread your productivity out over a longer period that allows you to wait for inspiration to hit you every now and then?

...when you have been given a specific framework/guidelines that you have to work within or when you can let your imagination run completely free?

Also, as a more open question, what's the single most helpful thing you can think of when it comes to stimulating your creativity?

Well at least I now know what is not conducive to your creativity: this thread.

Let it flow free-It happens when it happens. However, one must construct a time period in which to get results of such creativity. You have to want a result in order to funnel the creativity to an end product. These are the guidelines-each individual will approach their gift differently.

I simple create when ever the spirit moves me. Music can inspire my creativity-normally classic music. Every now and then it will be some POP music-sometimes a Prince song. (I will listen to a prince song over and over for hours while I work.) Life is probably the biggest inspiration.

I hope that answer some of your questions.

it just happens... never know when its gonna show up

Purpose.

Sometimes I have fleeting ideas, but I don't make them happen unless there is a deadline or event.

"usually" ... very late night ~ dark and shadowy (sp?)

sometimes very IN the moment ~ bright and cheery

kewlschool said:

Let it flow free-It happens when it happens. However, one must construct a time period in which to get results of such creativity. You have to want a result in order to funnel the creativity to an end product. These are the guidelines-each individual will approach their gift differently.

I simple create when ever the spirit moves me. Music can inspire my creativity-normally classic music. Every now and then it will be some POP music-sometimes a Prince song. (I will listen to a prince song over and over for hours while I work.) Life is probably the biggest inspiration.

I hope that answer some of your questions.

Music as inspiration is interesting, because I find that its effectiveness really depends on the type of creative work you're doing. If I'm for example editing my photographs I find that it really adds to the atmosphere (all kinds of visual arts probably benefit from it), but when I'm writing - especially if I'm crafting a dialogue - then I usually just find it distracting. If it has vocals and lyrics then it's even worse.

I usually say that writing is a very lonely craft since it's both hard to collaborate with other people on it, and it's also hard to have any kind of distraction in the background when you're doing it.

chocolate1 said:

Purpose.

Sometimes I have fleeting ideas, but I don't make them happen unless there is a deadline or event.

I agree that a deadline is a big help! Just knowing that there's somebody waiting to take part of my creative work once it's finished gives me a huge boost. That's why I produced several screenplays during my time at film school, but not nearly as many in the following years.

Mach said:

"usually" ... very late night ~ dark and shadowy (sp?)

sometimes very IN the moment ~ bright and cheery

So you're saying that the time of day of production affects the tone/style in your work?

retina said:

Mach said:

"usually" ... very late night ~ dark and shadowy (sp?)

sometimes very IN the moment ~ bright and cheery

So you're saying that the time of day of production affects the tone/style in your work?

No

though yes, it can

dark and shadowy meant more of the mental place as did bright and cheery and can be interchanged with the time of day, easily !

i paint and write. but i can only do it when i feel miserable, am single, nervous,

feeling alltogether like i'd really want to die.

that's when the creativity kicks in. so i do kind of thrive on misery since it does

me a lot of good in that i get something out of it in the end by means of some

poems or a painting.

i hardly ever feel miserable enough anymore tho, so my creative well is kind of

dried up at the moment.

retina said:

Are you most creative...

...when you're completely isolated and can focus only on your work, or when you have an active social life to inspire and energize you?

...in the morning, during the day, in the evening or late at night?

...as part of a creative team where you can offer feedback to each other or when you do everything yourself your own way?

...when you've set aside a limited amount of time purely dedicated to finishing your project or when you spread your productivity out over a longer period that allows you to wait for inspiration to hit you every now and then?

...when you have been given a specific framework/guidelines that you have to work within or when you can let your imagination run completely free?

Also, as a more open question, what's the single most helpful thing you can think of when it comes to stimulating your creativity?

I don't draw, paint, or create music. The only place I'm creative is in the kitchen. Sometimes I spend all day cooking, tweaking recipes, trying new things, experimenting with flavors, ingredients, textures and techniques.

I find I'm most moved to do this in the afternoon and evening. I often get up at 10 or 11 PM to bake something sweet for Jersey.

I like to be alone in the kitchen most of the time, because distraction annoys me. However, I do like to have the kids around to be my slaves sous-chefs!

I find inspiration in watching cooking shows and looking up amazing-looking food online.

I work best with a recipe to follow, but I almost never follow it to the letter.

Different moods bring out different creations

but mostly time...and right now there is very little of this, so any creations or thoughts of what could be are all put on hold

retina said:

Are you most creative...

...when you're completely isolated and can focus only on your work, or when you have an active social life to inspire and energize you?

...in the morning, during the day, in the evening or late at night?

...as part of a creative team where you can offer feedback to each other or when you do everything yourself your own way?

...when you've set aside a limited amount of time purely dedicated to finishing your project or when you spread your productivity out over a longer period that allows you to wait for inspiration to hit you every now and then?

...when you have been given a specific framework/guidelines that you have to work within or when you can let your imagination run completely free?

Also, as a more open question, what's the single most helpful thing you can think of when it comes to stimulating your creativity?

I work alone and my imagination is always off on some adventure or other . I write, draw and make jewelry. Most of my writing ideas come to me in my twilight state between waking and sleeping. I have to jump up and make a note right away or I may lose the idea. At times it's annoying since it disturbs my sleep pattern. When I am writing I prefer no distractions but I can draw or make my jewelry in any setting.

Meditation is my single most helpful creative stimulator.

I never set firm time limits, but I really should.

IstenSzek said:

i paint and write. but i can only do it when i feel miserable, am single, nervous,

feeling alltogether like i'd really want to die.

that's when the creativity kicks in. so i do kind of thrive on misery since it does

me a lot of good in that i get something out of it in the end by means of some

poems or a painting.

That's interesting. It fits well with the "suffering artist" cliché (which is surely a cliché for a reason). I'm totally the other way around though; I lose my inspiration completely when I'm feeling low but when I'm feeling great, then my mind is set alight with a gazillion ideas.

If that's the price you have to pay for hardly ever feeling miserable, then I guess in some ways it's totally worth it. lol

paintedlady said:

anger... there's nothing like creating anything when you are angry, I am most productive when I am pissed off.

I bet you deliver some very articulate diatribes then. lol

PunkMistress said:

I don't draw, paint, or create music. The only place I'm creative is in the kitchen. Sometimes I spend all day cooking, tweaking recipes, trying new things, experimenting with flavors, ingredients, textures and techniques.

I find I'm most moved to do this in the afternoon and evening. I often get up at 10 or 11 PM to bake something sweet for Jersey.

I like to be alone in the kitchen most of the time, because distraction annoys me. However, I do like to have the kids around to be my slaves sous-chefs!

I find inspiration in watching cooking shows and looking up amazing-looking food online.

Jersey is a lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky man.

That's probably pretty common. You rely on the recipe to form a "backbone" for the food, but then you tailor-make the rest according to your personal taste. When I read recipes though I get totally obsessive with getting all the amounts exactly right. If I put too much of something in, I have to add that amount of everything else too! It's probably because I'm not very confident as a chef. Or that I'm a stickler for rules, lol. At least certain rules.

eleven said:

Different moods bring out different creations

but mostly time...and right now there is very little of this, so any creations or thoughts of what could be are all put on hold

Yeah, too little time can be a problem. Too much of it can be a problem as well though. It's good to have a deadline to work towards.

babynoz said:

retina said:

Are you most creative...

...when you're completely isolated and can focus only on your work, or when you have an active social life to inspire and energize you?

...in the morning, during the day, in the evening or late at night?

...as part of a creative team where you can offer feedback to each other or when you do everything yourself your own way?

...when you've set aside a limited amount of time purely dedicated to finishing your project or when you spread your productivity out over a longer period that allows you to wait for inspiration to hit you every now and then?

...when you have been given a specific framework/guidelines that you have to work within or when you can let your imagination run completely free?

Also, as a more open question, what's the single most helpful thing you can think of when it comes to stimulating your creativity?

I work alone and my imagination is always off on some adventure or other . I write, draw and make jewelry. Most of my writing ideas come to me in my twilight state between waking and sleeping. I have to jump up and make a note right away or I may lose the idea. At times it's annoying since it disturbs my sleep pattern. When I am writing I prefer no distractions but I can draw or make my jewelry in any setting.

Meditation is my single most helpful creative stimulator.

I never set firm time limits, but I really should.

I can really identify with pretty much all of that. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to turn the light back on and scramble for a notepad just because an idea popped into my head just as I was about to sink into a nice dream. And as I pointed out in an earlier post, I totally agree that writing requires a distraction-free environment. Few other creative arts take up so much of your full attention as writing.

As for working alone, I can identify with that too since I work alone all day every day these days. Do you sometimes find it too lonely though? I can appreciate it for long periods of time, but sometimes I long for a colleague with whom I could bounce ideas back and forth, or at least get a bit of feedback.

As huge, completely new ideas go, I find that as I get older, they come fewer and farther between. But if I'm working with someone who's got an initial idea, I have a knack for realizing it, contextualizing it, embellishing it, polishing it, etc. in ways they'd rarely imagine.

I also find that I'm most productive in complete silence (and therefore late at night) or with some sort of white noise -- or better: brown noise -- generator.

The single most stimulating thing for my creativity? I hate to say it, but it's probably a deadline. I DESPISE deadlines, but they do get me moving.

Lammastide said:

As huge, completely new ideas go, I find that as I get older, they come fewer and farther between. But if I'm working with someone who's got an initial idea, I have a knack for realizing it, contextualizing it, embellishing it, polishing it, etc. in ways they'd rarely imagine.

That's how I am with music. I'm totally not a musician and I suck at coming up with new original melodies but when I hear a song that's not quite right, I can usually come up with a wide variety of ideas for improvements. So I guess I'd be a decent sound engineer or music producer or whatever.

I also find that I'm most productive in complete silence (and therefore late at night) or with some sort of white noise -- or better: brown noise -- generator.

I think brown noise, if by that you mean machinery at work, is quite comforting. Partly because of my bloody tinnitus but also because I just love to hear someone or something else at work. I guess maybe it reminds of my childhood, listening to my parents working in the kitchen or in the garden. When nothing is happening, that can be quite stressful since it means, in a way, that life has stopped moving forward.

retina said:

babynoz said:

I work alone and my imagination is always off on some adventure or other . I write, draw and make jewelry. Most of my writing ideas come to me in my twilight state between waking and sleeping. I have to jump up and make a note right away or I may lose the idea. At times it's annoying since it disturbs my sleep pattern. When I am writing I prefer no distractions but I can draw or make my jewelry in any setting.

Meditation is my single most helpful creative stimulator.

I never set firm time limits, but I really should.

I can really identify with pretty much all of that. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to turn the light back on and scramble for a notepad just because an idea popped into my head just as I was about to sink into a nice dream. And as I pointed out in an earlier post, I totally agree that writing requires a distraction-free environment. Few other creative arts take up so much of your full attention as writing.

As for working alone, I can identify with that too since I work alone all day every day these days. Do you sometimes find it too lonely though? I can appreciate it for long periods of time, but sometimes I long for a colleague with whom I could bounce ideas back and forth, or at least get a bit of feedback.

I have learned to keep a notepad beside my bed.

For me, the solitude is necessary when writing so that I can get into my characters and flesh them out properly. For the most part I've learned to cope with the loneliness, so the episodes of feeling forlorn come less frequently.

I'm pretty secretive about a project until it's almost done. At that point I feel more confident about sharing it and getting feedback. Even then I'm selective about who I get input from.

retina said:

PunkMistress said:

I don't draw, paint, or create music. The only place I'm creative is in the kitchen. Sometimes I spend all day cooking, tweaking recipes, trying new things, experimenting with flavors, ingredients, textures and techniques.

I find I'm most moved to do this in the afternoon and evening. I often get up at 10 or 11 PM to bake something sweet for Jersey.

I like to be alone in the kitchen most of the time, because distraction annoys me. However, I do like to have the kids around to be my slaves sous-chefs!

I find inspiration in watching cooking shows and looking up amazing-looking food online.

Jersey is a lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky man.

I work best with a recipe to follow, but I almost never follow it to the letter.

That's probably pretty common. You rely on the recipe to form a "backbone" for the food, but then you tailor-make the rest according to your personal taste. When I read recipes though I get totally obsessive with getting all the amounts exactly right. If I put too much of something in, I have to add that amount of everything else too! It's probably because I'm not very confident as a chef. Or that I'm a stickler for rules, lol. At least certain rules.

1. I have terrible PMS, so he does have crosses to bear.

2. Exactly - I usually need a recipe for the basic structure, as I'm not yet at the point where I can totally wing it with everything. There are some things I'm comfortable enough to throw together on my own, but I like the reassurance of having a tried and tested guideline.

3. I like your curiosity, retina. It seems genuine, and I enjoy answering your questions.

Definately not when I'm told to be creative.

PunkMistress said:

3. I like your curiosity, retina. It seems genuine, and I enjoy answering your questions.

I agree.

ayeishamaria said:

Definately not when I'm told to be creative.

THIS.

The best ideas hit me when I am no where close to being able to work on stuff.

paintedlady said:

anger... there's nothing like creating anything when you are angry, I am most productive when I am pissed off.

agreed