AIBU to ask if you can learn to be creative?

[flashria]

Thinking about my hobbies recently, I had a really unexpected moment of clarity when I realised that, although I love 'producing' something, all the things I enjoy doing - crosswords, jigsaw puzzles, crochet, cooking from recipes, cross-stitch - are ALL activities where I am fulfilling a project by following instructions towards a pre-set outcome, and therefore are not creative at all. I do get a lot of satisfaction from that process, but I have no clue at all how people set out to create something without parameters. I don't seem to have any imagination at all, or urge to 'express myself' in this way. I'm very literal and linear and concrete - I'm quite good at writing but if I wrote anything it would be a textbook, not a flight of imagination!

Are some people just missing that creative urge and ability to think outside the box in an unconstrained way? How could I go about developing that aspect? I love the idea of making something original but am bereft of both ideas and methods. You creative people - do you have a burning 'message' or feeling you want to express and then find a way to do that? Or do you start with a method (say, a collage, or some clay) and see what comes to you?

I'd really love to hear people's thoughts and experiences around this. Thanks!

I'm going to follow this post with interest as I'm exactly the same OP

You can learn to be creative by letting go of any expectations of yourself in for example how good you would be at painting. You could just put colour on paper to express how you are feeling in that moment. You could for example write an A4 page on what honesty means to you or love or whatever. You don't have to paint a Monet or write a bestseller. Of course there are lots of other ways to be creative. Just do what you enjoy. Also there are no rules that you have to be. If you enjoy getting in the flow and producing things from instructions that's ok. Do what you enjoy 😊

I learnt to be creative in making hand embroidery patterns for myself- if this counts?. I started off following patterns but gradually got fed up as there wasn’t any related to my other interest (in my case zoology) so I started to make patterns of my favourite animals and have since grown this continually- I did find it got easier over time and ideas do now ‘come to me randomly’ which I think would make good patterns although usually this is off the back of watching David Attenborough, looking at wildlife etc. I do think you can learn to be more creative but I think I’m order to do so you need to be able to know the basic skills- like I already knew all the stitches and how to do patterns so it wasn’t a far step to then create my own- but Id never be able to do this with crochet for example without knowing the basic skills required etc.

I've been thinking about this recently as I'd like to bring more creativity into my life and actually make things, rather than just daydream my ideas and never bring them to life. I quite enjoy the just daydreaming but I've realised I'd like something to show for it, too!

I find that all inspiration vanishes the second I have the time to sit down and make something, so I've decided to set myself a theme (eg. tree, flowers, travel, people etc) and it doesn't matter that the medium, each time I'll make something/anything around that theme, just for fun. It'll take the thinking out of it.

I'm hoping that getting into the habit of being physically creative might in time spark further creative ideas!

I think there's more than one way to be creative. When you cross-stitch or cook or crochet something, you are still 'creating'. You're still making something from scratch with your own hands and getting the satisfaction of creating a finished product, and satisfying a creative urge.

Also, if you're good at writing, that's creative in itself. Finding the right way to express your message is creative - even if that message is a factual one.

I would say that if you don't have an urge to express yourself in that way, then maybe it's just not something that floats your boat and I wouldn't worry about it.

But, if you do think you'd like to experiment a bit, then there are definitely ways of getting started. For example, 'creative journalling' is a fun thing to try, where you're doing more art/collage stuff than writing - there are loads of ways to do it (and you'll find tons of YouTube videos from people showing their own journalling styles and processes ) but it's generally about decorating pages with collage, stickers, drawings, little mementos like receipts or photos or tickets etc, and then writing a little bit about your day or what you're thinking or even just lists of things you've done or are interested in. The more you do it, the more creative you get, and you can spend as much or as little time on it as you like. And because it's your journal, nobody's judging the results. Don't like a page? No problem. You can try something different the next day.

I think collage and scrapbooking generally are a really nice way to be creative - you can make amazing collages just from magazine cuttings and paper scraps, and you don't need to tell a story or imagine anything in your head at the start - you can just think of a theme (it might even just be a colour) and then create a collage out of anything that suits the theme, and you'll be amazed at what surreal images you might end up with.

Also adult colouring books. Obviously with a colouring book you're using someone else's artwork, but you can still be super creative with colours, styles, media etc so it's a good entry-level creative activity. I'm not good at drawing at all, but I've been kind of amazed by the different moods I can create with colour and style.

There are also books that have writing prompts or doodle prompts in them for you to complete, so you get a basic idea and then you can just roll with it for fun.

Stuff like flower-arranging etc are also good - you don't have to tell a story or express an idea, but you're still free to try out whatever you like with it and make something that you love.

Hmm. I get where you're coming from. I'm quite crafty, but like you if I reflect on what I actually make, I don't make truly creative things, but I do have a flair.

I think you can develop it, but it takes work. And I don't think it's the same as being naturally creative. I think that's a different way of thinking entirely that's locked to me. But then the naturally creative probably would find a more linear way of thinking hard to comprehend.

To start with, perhaps, it's taking creative liberties with the instructions. Adding a border to cross stitch or different to the pattern, choosing a different wool colour or adding short sleeves instead of long to crochet. I realise these are instructions in and of themselves but they're a step in designing something.

Some crafts are more open to inspiration than others. Card making can be rigidly instructional I imagine, but once you have the idea you can create pieces following your own pattern as such.

I have a bullet journal. Which really is an excuse to doodle and spend a fortune on stationery. I spend a lot of time on pinterest. While I look at lot of others ideas, I don't copy, rather take elements I like and combine with others. It's hard to explain.

Also, apologies if this comes out rude and stupid, I don't mean it it way.
Have you ever just tried - as in got some paints out, or clay, or pencils and just played around to see what you make. Whatever came in that moment? Sometimes we think that what we make has to be good, otherwise we're not creative. If inspiration takes you to mould a rabbit with a carrot, it has to look like it. But it doesn't, you were still creating it, even if you didn't have the skills to implement it well.

Whether you choose the medium and await the idea, or you wait for the idea then choose the medium, I think is tricky.

True inspiration, I expect the idea influences the medium, but ultimately I think the more you use a medium, the more inspiration comes wanting to be expressed in that medium. Eg. If you're a model maker, with an idea for a train station, you're more likely to pick up the wood and glue, with some quick sketches than if you were a drawer, where you'd get your pencils out.

Interesting question!

I knit and cook and consider myself creative within those.

I knit a pattern, and then re-knit it with different colours or shapes or borders e.g. changing an elf hat into a santa hat or penguin gloves into bunny gloves.

I cook a recipe, then next time I won't be able to find one of the ingredients so I'll substitute, and over time it'll become a different recipe. Now very occasionally I'll make something up entirely- but usually on a framework I've already learnt.

I think very few people start from a completely blank sheet.

There are different kinds of creativity. Eg incremental changes, executing something. Think you’re stereotyping what creativity is.

Lots of your stated hobbies are creative.

Writing a textbook requires creativity.

If you do cross-stitch or crochet for example, you already have the skills necessary to complete a work of art. Now you just need to let go of the 'training wheels' so to speak. So start by drawing a simple picture of your own on paper, trace it onto fabric and cross-stitch that, instead of using a premade 'kit'. Voila you've made something entirely of your own. It doesn't matter if it's 'bad', it's a first step. Same with crochet and cooking - I find it's good to learn the 'method' of how to make something and then just come up with my own specifics (eg different veg or sauce) to make up something entirely different. Or choose your own combination of stitch patterns for example double crochet, cable, single crochet, etc and combine them together into a pattern and choose colours etc, without following a pre-set design. A blanket or a scarf would be a good start, or just 10x10cm swatches for experimentation. Pinterest is great for colour combination ideas.

Most of what being creative is lies in experimenting. Be prepared to make mistakes and make a messy item! It doesn't matter, it'll break you out of your need to be perfect and fear of failure.

There's a quote I love from the Science of Sleep - "Randomness is difficult to achieve. Organisation always merges back if you don't pay attention" - this is so true!!

Also read The Artists Way, by Julia Cameron. She talks about this very thing - most people are told they're "not the creative type" by school or parents, but really we ALL are. It brought tears to my eyes the first time I read that book - and the realisation that I am and have always been a creative person but I didn't know it - or wasn't allowed to think of myself that way - and then I wrote the first poem I'd ever written in my life!

I have managed to have some creative spells.
the most creative thing I've done is making some quilts.
It's hard. It's painful. Sometimes it utterly fails.

It's not like I'm technically proficient too, so even when my creative vision is good my output may be sneered at.

I've been trying to coax myself to make another quilt for last 4 or 5 years. The creative vision still isn't coming. Might have to wait for arrival of grandchildren !

ps: my cooking is creative and not technically proficient either. I hate routine, monotony or following instructions.

ironically at work I am considered the 'creative' problem solver: I can be resolute, resourceful & insightful about finding good solutions to puzzles and challenges. Just don't ask me to make it pretty. Or tasty.

yes, you can learn to be creative.

start with the skills you have - cooking or cross stitch are good - and do a few things that break the rules. Cook a recipe you know but try changing a few ingredients. Sew a pattern but change a few bits or even draw your own pattern. There are even websites to help you design your own cross-stitch pattern.
www.pic2pat.com/index.en.php

and then you are being creative. start with small things and you'll get more confident at doing things where you don't have to follow the rules.

I have a close friend who's a great writer (has written plays) but she's not and never will be creative e.g. in an arty sense. She appreciates art a lot and will visit exhibitions but she's just not creative, especially with her daughters.

I'm creative to a degree - e.g. I can draw, paint etc but I don't do it for fun. I do mosaics however which I do enjoy. DPs and DB are all very creative re painting etc.

@Gonnagetgoing

I have a close friend who's a great writer (has written plays) but she's not and never will be creative e.g. in an arty sense. She appreciates art a lot and will visit exhibitions but she's just not creative, especially with her daughters.

I'm creative to a degree - e.g. I can draw, paint etc but I don't do it for fun. I do mosaics however which I do enjoy. DPs and DB are all very creative re painting etc.

But if she's a playwright, she's creative, surely? Or do you just mean that while she's creative in terms of her own field of writing plays, she doesn't draw or paint with her children?

For me, when it's magic the gathering deck making, I get creative with the art, with the theme, e.g. Pirates, ect and build from their, when it's warhammer model making, it's having a basic idea then building on it with the theme I have in mind, sometimes I'll see what others have built, but in General I prefer my own perspectives.

I think you can to an extent. I learnt to crochet but always followed a pattern exactly, even down to the colours. Then I started picking my own colours. Changing the stitches a bit. Experimenting with textures and stitches. Now I design my own things, although nothing majorly exciting yet.

But I guess I always had the creative flair that means I can imagine something and then make it. Have the initial idea for an item rather than just copy what I've seen.

I came across this course which I was thinking about to shake up my stuck creativity:
www.westdean.org.uk/study/short-courses/courses/s1d11872-unsticking-your-practice

Lots of other lovely courses there too...

No I don't think you can learn to be creative. BUT I do think you can learn how to unlock your natural creativity, if you have any, and most people do. Once you realise that what you create doesn't have to be perfect - or fit into anyone else's idea of how it SHOULD be, it is very much easier. The trick is to get to that stage!

Wow, thank you so much for your thoughts everyone! There's loads to think about there, and lots of suggestions I will definitely follow up. The journalling sounds fun and, as you say, doesn't 'matter' because no one else will see it. I do think perhaps there's an element of judging and finding things not up to standard even when I've just doodled, for example. I usually doodle squares and geometric shapes, actually, which says a lot in itself!! KupoNutcoffee if I tried to make a rabbit with a carrot I would definitely expect it not to look like a three year old's scrawl - which it probably would!

I'm definitely going to find The Artist's Way, which sounds interesting, and I'm inspired by the simple idea of just finding a mood or a theme and trying something with that. Also thanks to those who've said I perhaps could start by just extending the things I'm already doing - perhaps I'm making it too difficult and overthinking it all.

Those Westdean courses look worth investigating too, BrioNotBiro.

I've taught creative classes for adults in the past and have given this a lot of thought.

To be honest, I realised that creativity IS for the most part, something you either have or don't have. And it doesn't even have much to do with whether you had a creative parent or whatever growing up, you just are or you aren't.

BUT, you can definitely improve by seeing it as a muscle to exercise, like creative people do when they're blocked.

First, you have to let go of the belief that there are any right or wrong ways (which is hard, think of all the years school and work told you there IS a wrong and right way).

Then try and copy something you like, and make one of two changes. Follow a non-clothing crochet pattern, but change the colours, then change the hook size every now and again, then add some beads in random places, then fray some of the edges, soak it plaster, shape it into a vase, then rub gold leaf on it. Then pick what element you like about it, and start with that element for the next project, etc, etc.

If you do Foundation Art & Design diploma, which is where you go before art school, they attempt to teach you to be creative. A really well known thing they do is 'wrong handed drawing', 'blindfolded painting' - it's just freeing yourself up really.

Thank you for that really interesting reply, thehonestybox. The thing is, I would be open to trying techniques like blindfolded painting or wrong-handed drawing, and it's fascinating to hear that they are included in a foundation art course, but I know would come back to the same problem in that I just wouldn't know what to paint or draw - my mind just goes a blank like suddenly there aren't any objects in the whole world to draw on as inspiration!

The idea you outlined of the crochet pattern feels immediately challenging to me, which is interesting in itself - fray the edges? random beads? change the hook size? ...perhaps therein lies part of my problem!