Saturday, June 17, 2006

The creative process...


I did a layout last night, and it has made me think about creativity. You see, I can't follow a sketch to save mt soul. And I can't "plan" what a layout will look like before sitting down to work on it. In my head, I SHOULD be be able to work that way. I mean, what joy I would have in sitting down and sketching out the perfect layout, with the perfect photo placement, etc. But I can't.

For instance, this layout. I was thinking something bright, like "Color Me Silly" or something KI. Bring out that bright green in her shirt and the background. Never in a million years was I thinking Fusion from BG. Never. Of course the bright colors were way too happy for this serious photo. And stamping? I don't stamp. I collect (ie scrap-hoard) them like nobody's business, but I don't stamp. So what did I do here? You guessed it. This layout just evolved. My creativity has taken a weird turn, and while I'd love to just follow it, I have a VERY BIG contest I'm looking into, and I can't have it turn now. NOT a convenient time, I tell ya!

Speaking of which, I RIPPED APART the layout I did for the contest yesterday. I mean literally disassembled the whole thing. I knew it wasn't what I wanted, but somehow I needed to try (as if I didn't already know the outcome) a pre-planned layout. I had it all on paper, as a sketch, and did the layout. Yeah, it was bad. Really bad. But somehow creatively it's what I needed to do at that moment. WEIRD. Redid the whole thing in less than an hour, and voila. Totally different. I'm scanning and saving what I do so once I lose I can look back and see where I went wrong. No seriously, so I can learn from this process. This putting yourself out there for the world to see process. It's tough for me, I'm not gonna lie!

Enjoy your Saturday!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love this...love that photo..and your design is A++!

Anonymous said...

Awesome LO!

I have to tell you... I work the same way you do. I think I *should* be able to sketch it all out and have it all planned out in advance, but I just DON'T work that way! Each LO just has to evolve... let my creative process take it where it will. Just know, Kay, that you're not alone out there. ;)

Oh, and good luck on your VERY BIG contest!! ;)