Where's The Big Idea?

I tend to agree with you GF. I think the only time I keep my ideas/WIPs to myself completely is when I feel I have a strong personal vision of what something will be and don’t want to “taint” it with outside input or second guess myself. If I’m working on something I’m not 100% on it’s always great to have that creative sounding board.

I collaborate more often theatrically than with drawing or painting, but one of the exciting parts of that is finding people to work with I respect who can add to my ideas or provide a spark for a tangent.

I like to talk out art/writing ideas sometimes, partly to make sense of it as I listen to myself and partly to hear what somebody else’s questions are and where an idea takes the listener’s imagination. Answering a question or realizing there’s a gap in my description/a part that just clunks can trigger some exciting leaps in the creative process.

Supportive and Insightful Thinkers. Don’t ignore how important word choice is, folks. MJ hit it on the head.

I’ve seen brainstorming at its worst at woot. People who can’t narrow things down without a vote, people who need every last line OK’d by someone, people who revolve around sycophants who don’t know how to critique, or else people who don’t have anything to add but “good” because they don’t know what else could be. But I’ve also seen it at its best, if much rarer these days. Ideas that end up looking like nothing you’d have expected from the starting point. Ideas warped and twisted until they become something almost indistinguishable from the original seed. First ideas abandoned for a quick and dirty concept that was just irresistible but came up in discussions. And it’s all about knowing who to trust.

If you want to make a grand, by all means, open all your art up to the every whim of a community of non-artists, whereupon a handful of people will give you ideas that will create a more marketable piece, in their eyes. If you want to make art, ignore that sort of brainstorming until you’re entirely sure of your design (and by then, you might not need the cosmetic decisions). Instead, find people you respect. People you trust. People who will work with you, and people who will not just squee in their pants simply because its your work, but will tell you something sucks when it does. And finally, people you enjoy hearing from outside of art. Does your friend Sue tell awesome stories? Ask her for info. Does your friend Bob do nothing but flood your facebook with pictures of his kid? Don’t ask him.

This last concept approaches another important bit: accepting and ignoring advice. Just as surrounding yourself with sounding boards who have something unique or interesting to say is vital, being able to analyze comments is more so. The two worst sins I see in pre-derby designs are listening to everyone equally, and not listening to anyone at all. Get to know yourself, and you’ll get to know what suggestions are right for you. But TRULY know yourself. If you don’t understand foreshortening, and someone says so, maybe you should react as if you care. If your work has been overdone, or includes property that isn’t yours, be humble enough to realize this if someone warns you against submitting. And for the love of all which is holy, analyze opinions with as unbiased an eye as possible if you open yourself up for critique. If I tell someone something sucks, and I do it often, it’s because I think it does. Do I have a point? You’ll never know if you just take a “oh, well, Adder is just a jerk” approach to the comment, just like you’ll never know where your work falls short if you take opinions from anyone who seems to be nice because they’re nice. Learning yourself, and learning self-critique, is the best way to analyze other critique.

It’s also important to realize that a sounding board isn’t a friend. It could be, sure, but they should be more than that. Friends tend to let you down easy, or not want to let you down at all. Sounding boards should be willing and able to show you where you’re potentially failing. Select them differently than you’d select people to get tacos with on tuesday. And seriously, DO select them. I’ve seen ideas stolen from pre-derby threads, though in my old age I don’t remember them all. I’ve seen blind praise overlook simple simple flaws that led to rejections. Among the people I consider colleagues and friends here, it is far more important to have an honest dialog and a creative one. If you’re not being selective, and selecting, as MJ notes, supportive (not sycophantic), insightful (as in, able to see something not everyone can easily see) thinkers (people who put the effort into the gears turning, so to speak), you’re not in your art. Everyone but you is.

I think it all depends on the person, and more importantly where you are getting your feedback from. If you listen to too much criticism, your own style may suffer, whereas if you listen to none, you may stagnate. It’s important to try and guide people while still allowing them to remain true to their own style, ideas, etc. It’s a tricky balancing act.