Creative constraints

It sounds quite paradoxical but constraints can be very liberating when it comes to creativity.

For example when I was doing masters I hated writing the essays.

Because they were never finished.

There was always something you could improve.

Thank God there was a submission deadline otherwise I would still be there tweaking and perfecting myself into insanity.

In that sense, the time constraint meant freedom!

For better or worse I could put that wretched project behind me.

Another type of restriction is the tools used.

For example, here is one of my favourite excerpts from Austin Kleon’s ‘Steal like an Artist’:

“Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat with only 236 different words, so his editor bet him he couldn’t write a book with only 50 different words. Dr. Seuss came back and won the bet with Green Eggs and Ham, one of the best selling children’s books of all time”

Now that’s not to say constraints are guarantees for success but they do make life more interesting.

If you forecast that your movie masterpiece will cost $10 million to make but the studio only gives you $5 million. Now it’s a challenge!

Now there’s an opportunity for some ground breaking film production problem solving to come to the surface!

(See Spielberg’s adaptation to faulty mechanics when making ‘Jaws’)

No constraints is awful. Infinite is paralysing.

Have you ever tried to pick a movie to watch on Netflix or heard the career advice ‘you can do anything you put your mind to’?

The endless options are overwhelming!

So we watch something we’ve already seen before or pick a college course because our friends are doing it.

So if you’re getting bored of painting sunsets, see if you can create one only using one colour or try and paint it with your nose or do it blindfolded – whatever tickles your fancy!