Really enjoyed this peek into your process, Ade! I myself have been thinking about the role of constraints in creativity lately, and I’ve come to the same conclusion. Creating is also a lot more fun when you give yourself the challenge of a constraint. It becomes like a game! Thanks for sharing
Great article! As someone who creates for a living (I'm a graphic designer) I've learned to love working within boundaries. I actually prefer that to being told I have "creative freedom." I find that unlimited freedom creates decision paralysis, which makes creating much harder for me. It's good to feel challenged by a rigid premise and sort of discover ways to contort your creative limbs to make new shapes out of it.
There's something beautiful about taking an ordinary thing and discovering new ways to see it through different lenses. I think that unique ability of perceiving something fresh and guiding people through that perspective is what makes being creative so fun and liberating.
Some call it constraints, others call it form :) I don't think we have to be restricted to the old forms, but there is a certain craving of some kind of form, even if it's looping gifs :)
I’ll have to think about that. The word “form” is tripping me up. But this makes me want to write a followup about the difference between word prisons and self-imposed constraints. A word prison is a limiter like “portrait photographer” which comes with rules that restrict you. But a healthy constraint is, “I only allow myself to use pinhole cameras.” I don’t want to presume what the equivalent in poetry is but I think the metaphor holds?
Well, a 35mm picture has a form for example :) I think McLuhan said every medium contains some other medium. So poetry has many forms of course, sonnets, haiku, etc... And now there is free verse which is formless. But is it? The same thing happened to Jazz, where there was free jazz. To an untrained listener it's just notes, scales, etc... but usually to the musician there is some idea or concept there. I don't think they are just playing random notes.
On the constraints vs form. If there is a certain chord being played, then there is a corresponding scale that will "sound good" with that chord. So that could be the constraint: only play notes that pair well with the chord.
But nearly all the best jazz players don't do this as this will sound boring. So they will add notes that create discord on purpose in certain spaces. So there is a form there I think.
I see your point about constraint vs form, I think I would have to sit with it a bit more too. But it is along these lines.
That’s interesting. There’s an aspect of mastery that goes into it. As a beginner the constraints of big buckets like “photographer“ are helpful because you need to learn the rules. At this stage it isn’t a word prison, it’s a playground where you happily play within the rules. Then as you gain mastery you start to see ways to break the rules. You see the walls of the prison and push against them. Eventually you learn to invent your own constraints and explore forms within forms. Reminds me of the “smaller circles” advice from “The art of Learning” by Josh Waitzkin.
Really enjoyed this peek into your process, Ade! I myself have been thinking about the role of constraints in creativity lately, and I’ve come to the same conclusion. Creating is also a lot more fun when you give yourself the challenge of a constraint. It becomes like a game! Thanks for sharing
Great article! As someone who creates for a living (I'm a graphic designer) I've learned to love working within boundaries. I actually prefer that to being told I have "creative freedom." I find that unlimited freedom creates decision paralysis, which makes creating much harder for me. It's good to feel challenged by a rigid premise and sort of discover ways to contort your creative limbs to make new shapes out of it.
There's something beautiful about taking an ordinary thing and discovering new ways to see it through different lenses. I think that unique ability of perceiving something fresh and guiding people through that perspective is what makes being creative so fun and liberating.
Some call it constraints, others call it form :) I don't think we have to be restricted to the old forms, but there is a certain craving of some kind of form, even if it's looping gifs :)
I’ll have to think about that. The word “form” is tripping me up. But this makes me want to write a followup about the difference between word prisons and self-imposed constraints. A word prison is a limiter like “portrait photographer” which comes with rules that restrict you. But a healthy constraint is, “I only allow myself to use pinhole cameras.” I don’t want to presume what the equivalent in poetry is but I think the metaphor holds?
Well, a 35mm picture has a form for example :) I think McLuhan said every medium contains some other medium. So poetry has many forms of course, sonnets, haiku, etc... And now there is free verse which is formless. But is it? The same thing happened to Jazz, where there was free jazz. To an untrained listener it's just notes, scales, etc... but usually to the musician there is some idea or concept there. I don't think they are just playing random notes.
On the constraints vs form. If there is a certain chord being played, then there is a corresponding scale that will "sound good" with that chord. So that could be the constraint: only play notes that pair well with the chord.
But nearly all the best jazz players don't do this as this will sound boring. So they will add notes that create discord on purpose in certain spaces. So there is a form there I think.
I see your point about constraint vs form, I think I would have to sit with it a bit more too. But it is along these lines.
That’s interesting. There’s an aspect of mastery that goes into it. As a beginner the constraints of big buckets like “photographer“ are helpful because you need to learn the rules. At this stage it isn’t a word prison, it’s a playground where you happily play within the rules. Then as you gain mastery you start to see ways to break the rules. You see the walls of the prison and push against them. Eventually you learn to invent your own constraints and explore forms within forms. Reminds me of the “smaller circles” advice from “The art of Learning” by Josh Waitzkin.