originality

06 Dec 2009

You know, originality is a b&*ch. It can kill creativity all too easily. If it's a goal, it can quickly turn into a ball and chain that holds you back in stead of propelling you onward.

The only thing the concept is useful for is as an idea, an aide for your brain to cast of your preconceptions. Triggering yourself to attempt to think outside of your box. If the concept of being original doesn't provide you with "more freedom" it's of no use whatsoever. All too often, when you come up with something that "feels" new to you, if you think on it, it's probably not 100% original, and all too easy to discard.

The trick is... you have your work, be it original or not. Then if you start the process of coming up with something new to work on... you can start by thinking "I want something original, fresh, something I haven't done before"... but as soon as ideas start coming to you, get rid of that thought. If you use it as a guideline for the pictures in your head it's a killer, even though it can be useful as a point to set off from.

Also, about CG art, or any other form, but especially in CG... there's a lot of artists, and a lot of artisans. There's people with great ideas (visions), and those that can make beautiful things (skills). Some of the time, though not all the time, those can meet in one person. Usually, that's when the really interesting stuff happens.

Dolf J. Veenvliet