Creative tools.
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 4 comments link this postI've figured it out.
I've figured out why I like jobs like working the night shift at the Post Office or something along those lines that have nothing to do with writing or art or anything remotely creative.
Writers, artists, and musicians who have the skill, drive, confidence and desire to create on their own, having their own taste and knowing it, are quickly worn out working in a job that seems to be perfect for such skills. Being able to design or write or create on your own terms is very different than being bound in by your boss's terms.
When I design my own posters, graphics or materials for my own use, I love it. It's fun and freeing and exciting; the ideas seem to come out endlessly. When I paint for my own enjoyment rather than commissioned and told what to paint, it is a challenge and a release. When I have to design for another person, or an employer, however, I have to design according to how I know their tastes are and this often clashes with my own personal taste and instinct. It leaves me feeling embarrassed by what I've created and strongly wanting to disassociate my name with it.
Few things are more exhausting than frustrated creativity being hemmed in by boundaries and walls that don't make sense and that I don't even agree with. Suggestions and ideas that are pushed aside only serve to make me doubt my own opinion and ability.
It's not my work, really. It's my skills stripped clean of anything me and used as a tool to create the desires of someone else.
Creative tools aren't pencils and brushes and word processors and instruments. They are frustrated people trying to make a living using their gifts in a way that kills them.
And really, who wants to be a tool?
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 6/07/2007 12:22:00 AM
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4 Comments:
That is really funny and insightful. I think that is how bloggers feel about writing. Never enjoyed writing term papers and even "creative" essays back in college.
Since graduation, my writings were pretty much limited to business communications require precision and clarity, but not creativity.
Discovered blogging, and I ran with it until it attracted readers. As few as they may be, I am now a bit afraid of offending my readership.
Not an artist myself, but I can see how limitations and boundaries imposed on you can stifle your creativity.
But the dang thing is we gotta eat and live.
By 
David Cho, at
7/6/07 02:32
When your art becomes your work it is just that -- work. The creativity becomes boxed into someone else's vision -- not your own. Art thrives out of the box -- not in it.
My daughter is an extremely gifted pianist. Her first semester in college was as a piano performance major. She couldn't stand it. She changed to political science and plays the piano for fun now (and a little extra income) and has blossomed. The head of the Music Department told me recently that she was the most gifted musician on campus -- but he was still enough artist that he understood why she chose not to pursue the music major.
By Panhandle Poet, at
7/6/07 12:15
That is true.
The jobs I've always been happiest at have had nothing to do with art, writing or music.
I'm not sure about it being a given to encourage people to find employment in the area they have the most creative talent, since killing that or burning that out in any way vitally affects the very core of the person.
It's kind of like when I joke about being an art whore when I design things I have no interest, not really joking at all.
By Julie, at
7/6/07 12:30
My friends Dave and Joann used to tell me things like this. They did some interesting freelance work.
By 
, at
7/6/07 18:25
