The Ultimate Guide To Creativity

Truth is, and sorry to disappoint you, there isn't an ultimate guide. I didn't lie, I mean I don't have your ultimate guide. I do have my own, ultimate guide and each person has their own ultimate guide. It's not a matter of having only one same guide for everyone. Now that wouldn't be creative at all would it?

We all may have similar and varying ways and to increase our creativity, to foster and enable this innate ability we possess at birth. Please do share the ways you've increased your creativity and how you continue to do this?

• Parents have a huge role to play in increasing a child's creativity and imagination, through encouragement and exposure to activities that provide an creative environment, allowing for lots of play, discovery and even risk. 

One of the very best things parents can do is to provide an opportunity for their children participate in creative activities such as art, dance, music, writing, reading and theatre etc.
Increasingly too many children have so much structured activity that doesn't allow for enough discovery through play that enables a free exploration of child's natural and fertile imagination in the physical world

• The educational system as Sir Ken Robinson states, really does need a complete transformation and paradigm shift, in that creativity must be seen as a foundation cornerstone of education. 

Having been involved myself in public schools as an art teacher, I must agree with Sir Ken Robinson when he states that schools kill creativity and that creativity needs to be seen as being so vital to education as literacy and every other subject, and needs to be treated with the same status.

• Involve yourself in creative activities.                                                                                     

This increases your creativity. It's discipline and work, and most importantly it should be fun. Learning and fun go hand in hand. One doesn't exclude the other nor should it.
 Practice might not make perfect but you'll certainly get closer to perfection and you'll increase you skills exponentially. Creativity is also about increasing our skill, regardless of what we do. It's a way living. Applying creative thinking to what we do, and how we live, is an extremely valuable and enriching asset.

Looking at loads of art work, getting into the habit of learning about loads of other artists is an absolute best practice.

• Do something creative every day. For me writing is what I do every day. It keeps the creativity flowing. When I can't paint and I'm feeling frustrated because I can't for what ever reason, writing I know is my creative outlet and keeps me connected to that creative source.

One of the most important pieces of advice I received when I went to University to complete my Bachelor of Fine Art, was being told to develop a daily habit of doing something creative everyday. I distinctly remember, and will never forget what was told to me verbally by my Professor Adriana Kuiper, who stated how important it was for an artist to make it a regular habit to do something creative everyday, developing that into a regular daily practice toward the creative process.

 My professor gave the example of Cliff Eyland, producing a painting every day. I never knew he did this until then. I knew intrinsically how a daily habit such as writing, or having the discipline of prayer or meditation can be so beneficial, and right then and there, I knew I had to apply this even more emphatically to my art practice.

I believe this is the 'secret' of being able to produce a remarkable body of work, like the one Cliff has achieved. It's no magical thing, nothing but applying yourself to the work, founded on the passion to create. It's a beautiful thing, one day, one painting, at a time.

Creativity is as important as literacy and numeracy, and I actually think people understand that creativity is important - they just don't understand what it is. Ken Robinson
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/k/ken_robinson.html

Creativity is as important as literacy and numeracy, and I actually think people understand that creativity is important - they just don't understand what it is. Ken Robinson
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/k/ken_robinson.html

• Keep a journal. 

 This one is really important to me. I will emphatically tell you that this simple act of journaling changed my life in so many ways. I can tell you it can change yours as well, but this is something you can only really believe by finding out for yourself.  You have nothing to loose in trying it on and might just discover it was so worth your while in countless ways.

• Go to school.

 This can be a bit of a sensitive thing for some folks. I am referring to some artists who are self taught, and who sometimes poo poo a formal art education. Getting an art education is never a bad thing, regardless if you go to University or not. But if you choose to go to University to study, it's a wonderfully, exciting, and highly rewarding experience. You are enveloped into an environment where your peers are involved in the same pursuit; learning about art, artists and creativity. I know it isn't for everyone, but for some it can make all the difference.

• Find a mentor(s).    

 Whatever we do, we all need and hopefully want to find and have someone in our lives that we admire and respect. It gives us the opportunity to figure out what kind of person and/or artist we aspire to be, through anothers example. When we can have an opportunity to sit down one to one, get a critique, go to a critique,  pick brains, get suggestions and feed back from them, this can help us immeasurably, and it's what I particularly loved and miss about the University environment. I was always being challenged and always learning from others.

• Check your ego at the door. 

This can be difficult sometimes, because as artist's we can have, shall I say 'delicate' and tender egos. When you are in a University environment you can't avoid critiques and sometimes they can be brutal. uncomfortable and down right painful, depending on the situation, the student and the professors. That said, you'll be guaranteed to learn some very important, life changing lessons, and the bonus is you will develop a confidence as a person and as an artist.

You eventually need to develop a thick skin and more importantly be able to speak with conviction, integrity and with a discourse about your work. In other words you need to believe in what it is you are doing, even if your not completely certain what it is you are creatively exploring. Honesty really is the best policy, being honest with yourself, and with others.

 Please do share the ways you've increased your creativity and how you continue to do this?