on creating...

[spacebug]

In general, do you find that your ideas come first, and then you figure out the tools to realize them, or do your ideas come out of the capabilities of your tools?

Is one way better than another?

Comments

[star5.livejournal.com]

i go both ways. sometimes i have ideas and then figure out how to make them happen. sewing is like that for me. but often i have to play with something to figure out its capabilities and what will inspire me.

when i was taking a sculpture class in college and was about to learn to weld, our instructor wanted us to draw out an idea or two of what we'd like to do. but i had never tried welding.. and i just didn't know what to imagine yet. it was really hard. and i don't even think i ended up with what i'd drawn. for me, if it's a completely new medium it takes time to just play with it.

it's rare for me to just have an idea on it's own that doesn't come out of playing around.. though it is happening more often these days. the tree was an idea on its own. and it too evolved, though most of its evolution was before i'd even started, just talking with others.

[star5.livejournal.com]

oh and i don't think one way is better than another.. though i do think it's really nice when the ideas just come to you and then you solve how to make them happen.. it makes me feel less floundering somehow. more like i have a direction. but even still, they often change once you actually start.

[spacebug.livejournal.com]

Sewing is the same for me, too- it's kind of a relief to have something that has a more defined "done" point, as making music, for better or worse, is often more like wandering in the dark.