I’ve been thinking a bit about Copyright and Intellectual Property lately. I’ve been thinking about it because I am a creator, and because I think a lot about the creative process. And, because I read The Chronicles of Narnia every so often.

Hmm?

Let me explain. You may remember the scene from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe where Santa Claus shows up, seemingly out of place in the Lewis universe. But, if you read the books, you will see such cross-overs happening quite often. Prince Caspian (the book) features Baccus and other Greek mythology characters. In fact, they play a major role in the story. One of Lewis’ points in the book is to show how God’s truth and beauty shows up across the world’s mythology (and how it can also redeem it). It’s a point that is made more powerful when that mythology actually shows up in Lewis’ story - in recognizable form.

As I read through this, I got to thinking …what if I want to do something similar today? What if I want to include, in my story, the characters of another story? And who are the characters my culture holds dear? What are our common mythologies? Star Wars? Buzz and Woody? Neo? What if I decided to have any of these characters walk into my work?

I’d be breaking the law, I imagine. Those characters and mythologies, unlike Baccus, are owned and regulated. They make up my culture, but they don’t belong to me.

Or to you.

So, I am wondering what this means to us? The fact that modern copyright laws will push work we can reference and incorporate and re-create back farther and farther into the past and irrelevance is frustrating to me.

Creativity should sustain and author. But it should never be a cash cow milked to all eternity. After all, once you create one Mickey, you can coast then, right? Why create something else at all?

Anyways, just some thoughts I am thinking. I think this is a major cultural shift (there are no fireside stories any more and no folk-songs we all own and share). We now lived in a borrowed (or paid-for) culture. What mark will that fact make on our own cultural contributions? How is our ability to create affected?

This post was again sparked by listening to Search Engine with Jessie Brown, on CBC. You can read a relevant post, and watch a trailer for a documentary about just this issue, here…

http://www.cbc.ca/searchengine/blog/2008/10/rip_a_remix_manifesto.html#more

Tell me what you think about all of this? Is there value in the “cultural remix”? Should we be free to rework common mythologies and explore the values of those pre-created worlds? Is that a slippery slope?

It may be a twist on the old beatitude, but I think it’s proving true in my own experience.

There is something about poverty and the arts that seems to act like a magic thread, holding the two somehow together.

Blessed are the poor, for they shall create.

I mean (movie stars aside) how many really wealthy artists do you know? Historically, have artists been the wealthiest in their society? When you think of the typical artist, what word comes to mind with simple word association …

“starving”

So why is this?

I got to thinking about it today, as it is Blog Action Day. Blog Action Day is a day when bloggers all around the world unite to bring awareness to a specific topic, this year’s being “poverty”. For some reason, when I thought of poverty, I immediately thought of art.

Firstly, art is often born of struggle. It is often from our deepest pain and longing that we create things of meaning and beauty and truth (if we are willing to be open and honest). The things we create may be beautiful in and of themselves, or because of the truths they reveal about how hard life can be. To relate to a fellow human being the way we can through that type of art is a beautiful thing. I know some of my most beautiful and meaningful songs have been written in a place of deep despair - and sometimes economic poverty as well. I often need to write a song just to pull myself through those times, in fact. From my poverty and weakness is born beauty. I believe that story is repeated time and again.

Second, art often leads to poverty. Sometimes, an artistic vision runs so deep and is so personal that great personal sacrifice must be made to bring it to fruition. Many artists have died without recognition, in poverty, only to have their work regarded as genius years later. Art (the passionate, true, romantic kind fed with risk and integrity) is a very daring business indeed. And often, it is not much of a “business” at all. The world does not always ascribe financial worth to beautiful things - but rather takes them and their creators for granted.

Finally, art can often provide a way out of struggle. I think of the film Born Into Brothels, where the simple act of creating something brought community and hope to a group of hopeless children, living in a brothel in India. I think of those poor in my own community, Alberta Avenue, where an arts-driven revitalization. I think of the kids who stood proud to have real performers on their streets the weekend of our arts festival, and the hope in their eyes that maybe their neighborhood - their existence - was worth something after all. There is power in art.

So, poverty and art - what do you think about the connection? Does it run even deeper?

I mentioned a few days back that I had been learning my craft a bit with tutorials. I most often go to PSDtuts.com for this.

I am working on some images that require natural elements (trees, foliage, etc) and so I decided to try their tutorial on painting a fantasy tree scene. Not really my normal style, but I was excited to try some digital painting. I’m pretty happy with the results, actually. This was painted from scratch, with my mouse, using only tools that come in Photoshop by default. It was a bit of a “paint by numbers” exercise, but it did get me drawing and learning a LOT of new techniques in the process.

You can view the tutorial here.

Since moving my sound equipment downstairs into a more permanent area, I’ve (surprise) been using it more!

That includes Logic and especially my midi keyboard. I’ve been hammering out some song sketches and debating over which to share here.

Well, here is one with no lyrics yet, but a lyric line in my head which you’ll have to just guess at for now. What I’ve got here for you is just the start of the basic track for this song - I still need to finish writing it.

But, it is something I did this weekend, and it’s creative - so here it is!

when-you-are-up-sketch

PS >> Last weekend I found myself in Barrhead and rural Alberta shooting photos and video all day. While I had a very “Creative Weekend” I didn’t have time to update the site. Oh well, I won’t punish myself if you won’t.

This weekend, in addition to hammering out “When You Are Up”, I took in the pinhole photography workshop at The Carrot. I’ll post my results when I get them back, but for now, let’s just say I had a VERY good time and learned a LOT about how photography works. Just an empty Turtles tin, some electrical tape and a piece of photographic paper my friends - that was my camera. I can’t wait to get the images back.

Enjoy the tune - and let me know what you think. Perhaps I shouldn’t take the time to develop it further? Perhaps I should take a week off and make it my magnum opus?

garfield minus garfield.

The most creative ideas, to me, are often also the most ridiculously simple. If you find yourself saying, “hey, I could have done that!”, then you have found something truly, purely creative, because all the strength lies in the idea itself - not in the difficulty of it’s execution. Perhaps the more you really could have done that yourself, the mure “pure” it’s creative genius?

Take the Pet Rock as a classic example. Of course any of us could of done that. Truth is though, we did not.

Add to this category Garfield Minus Garfield. Photographer TJ McLachlan sent me this link (thanks TJ), and I’m happy.

In its’ own words,

“Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.”

Enjoy.

garfield minus garfield.

I took a trip to Victoria last week and a bit, and saw some BEAUTIFUL sites there. That is, in fact, why I was not able to post a Creative Weekend project last week.

However, I got plenty of fodder for future projects, as I shot many, many photos on my new 8 GB camera card.

Today I decided to process the first of these, and to process the heck out of it just for fun. I’d wanted to do some vintage filtering on a photo for a while, so I found a good post on PSDTUTES, right here, and followed along through the relevant parts.

Here is what I came up with. I think it will be gracing my desktop for a little while - and feel free to invite it over to your house too.

The font I used is freely available - it is called Bleeding Cowboys and you can snag it somewhere like dafont.com.

So, come on now, what are YOU going to create this weekend? Will you share it with us on the forums?

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

I believe I first read about this principle in John Maxwell’s excellent book, “Failing Forward”. Maxwell teaches that if you want to be a success, you not only need to fear failure, you need to embrace it. He goes on in the book to list the many, many failures of some of history’s greatest successes.

The principle transfers over for us artists as well. If we want to get good at something, we are going to have to get through being bad at it first. And there is only one way to do that - practice.

The creative concept here is called “Fluency”. It deals not with the quality of our production, but the sheer quantity. And it says that with enough quantity, quality will follow.

The Torrens Test for creativity is a simple excercise that I do each fall with my Creative Communications class at Vanguard College. You can take the test yourself now. Write down every use you can think of for an empty tin can in 60 seconds. There are no further directions.

In the real Torrens Test, the generated lists are evaluated based on four factors, and a sort of “creativity” score is assigned. How valuable that is I’m not sure, but one of those four factors is notable here - “fluency”. You get one point for every idea in your list. Period. No matter how bad or mundane, how absurd or impossible. It is still an idea. The Torrens Test says there is value in that alone.

As artists, we spend a lot of time staring at the blank page or canvas, do we not? I know I fear beginning a work often because I want perfection. If I can’t get a good enough idea, why do anything at all? But the “rule of fluency” tells us that some ideas are better than no ideas - and perhaps many ideas are better than the one “perfect” idea. Besides, our idea of “perfect” may not be understood by others anyways.

All of this came up fresh for me this morning while reading an excellent book, “Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius”, by Michael Michalko. Michalko tells that Thomas Edison held 1093 patents, still the record, and he did this by giving himself idea quotas. One minor invention every ten days and a major one every six months. Bach wrote a contata every week, no matter what, says Michalko. Einstein published 248 papers other than his famous on on the theory of relativity, we are told. Michalko concludes his thoughts with this remark;

“Out of their massive quantity of work came quality. Geniuses produce. Period.” (p. 10)

So, what am I producing today? Am I fighting with the blank page, or filling it, regardless of what with. Sometimes the pen won’t yield good language until it is flowing freely. I hope I am creating and doing so frequently (and growing as I do). That is why I started the Creative Weekend series of posts, actually. To keep my own nose to the grindstone. I have found being part of a creative group can have the same effect of accountability. Either way, I need something.

What are you producing today? What has been your experience with artistic productivity? Is this a key to creativity, or is it simply something that may work for some, but not for you?

I’d love to hear your feedback on this idea. Not sure what to write? The rule of fluency would tell you to just begin.

In order to keep myself creative, I’m starting The Creative Weekend.

My vow to you the reader is to create something new, and not for pay, each week. It can be whatever I want it to be, but it must be new, and it must not be for a client. I will post it here and invite you to comment/give me feedback on it, AND to post your own creative productivity of the week.

For this, I am using our new forum. Yes, it is totally new. The old forum will soon be dead. Why?

A) It was not used
B) It was not integrated well into the rest of the site (which is likely why it was not used)

The new forum will take your comments from this post directly to the forum, where you will have some more control over them, and be able to share more content with us.

Anyways, without further ado - my first Creative Weekend project is a photo I took recently. It was spotted just outside the Gate of Happy Arrivals in Edmonton’s Chinatown.

Use it for whatever you like, and please link back to my site if you do (if you can do so easily). Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

ALSO - share YOUR Creative Weekend project with us. (anytime over the weekend).

Join the forum discussion on this post - (3) Posts

I just read through a great post by blogger Nicholas Flight. He’s been working through some thoughts, and some leadings from God, about being more than a consumer, but starting to create culture instead. I’d say the call is not just for Nicholas, but for us as well. Have a read and see if you’d agree.

http://nickflight.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-god-has-been-saying-to-me-i-have.html