When you start with a strawman like that, where can you go?
Well, where can't you go? :)
Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
41–50 of 59 posts
Re: Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
#42I think the study and practice of fundamental techniques is directly tied to training your creative side. But they're also independent skills, in a sense. I see far too many young artists who focus solely on technique, at the detriment of their creativity. Classical atelier programs can train an individual to create astonishingly life-like representations... but too often lacking entirely in any sort of creativity. O…
> But when I knew how to express ideas, for some reason I had an easier time coming up with those ideas in the first place. That's the rub, being creative is not worth much if you don't have the necessary skills and technique (practice practice practice!) to express yourself.
It's another spin on "ideas are worthless" (http://paulgraham.com/ideas.html)
Re: Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
#43I'm someone who fervently studied classical drawing, painting, and sculpture, against the advice of my friends and professors (they told me to stop studying so hard and to start an art career). The problem with over-practice is that you can get caught in mindless habit. It ruined art for me. It's become very difficult for me to draw pictures that are interesting (if wrong) because I've trained so hard to draw them ac…
>I've tried to fix it, to rewind.
Re: Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
#44> the techniques of deliberate practice are most applicable to "highly developed fields" such as chess, sports, and musical performance in which the rules of the domain are well established and passed on from generation to generation Bummer. I was hoping to find some shortcuts to learning how to play the guitar. I've had one for 20 years now and still can't play it.
Spend five minutes a day playing it. Seriously.
Re: Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Creativity is spontaneous, playful, imaginative - and none of those things come from grinding. Research shows that people who simply produce wind up producing better . So, the research disagrees with you at least somewhat. There is no creativity without production. Production, however, does not guarantee creativity.
That's output vs intent, however - you can be creative but not necessarily create physical things. Most artists create nothing themselves - they leave that to their artisans. Are they uncreative because they instruct rather than construct?
> Most artists create nothing themselves
Sorry, who are you talking about?
Re: Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
#46> the techniques of deliberate practice are most applicable to "highly developed fields" such as chess, sports, and musical performance in which the rules of the domain are well established and passed on from generation to generation Bummer. I was hoping to find some shortcuts to learning how to play the guitar. I've had one for 20 years now and still can't play it.
I started in 2000. I have a basic competence and can accompany myself and compose pop songs, but I somewhat regret not having put in the time up front in lessons and deliberate practice. I could have had 15 years of compound interest.
That said, I do play every day, or mostly, for love of the game. Life's too short to work or play without love.
Re: Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
#47One of the most damaging notions of creativity is that of the lone genius, as portrayed and developed by the Romantics.
To be creative you have to situate yourself in a tradition (it could be furthering the tradition, or rebelling against it).
Re: Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's output vs intent, however - you can be creative but not necessarily create physical things. Most artists create nothing themselves - they leave that to their artisans. Are they uncreative because they instruct rather than construct?
> Most artists create nothing themselves Sorry, who are you talking about?
The vast majority of artists. You think Damien Hirst has picked up a brush in 20 years?
Re: Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
#49I think the study and practice of fundamental techniques is directly tied to training your creative side. But they're also independent skills, in a sense. I see far too many young artists who focus solely on technique, at the detriment of their creativity. Classical atelier programs can train an individual to create astonishingly life-like representations... but too often lacking entirely in any sort of creativity. O…
> But when I knew how to express ideas, for some reason I had an easier time coming up with those ideas in the first place. That's the rub, being creative is not worth much if you don't have the necessary skills and technique (practice practice practice!) to express yourself.
I think this is less true than you think especially after seeing documentaries inside the world of many high-profile artists.
In many real-world cases, creativity is closer to direction and composition than the nuts and bolts technique. This is especially true for works that grow in scale beyond a single practitioner. Modern artists have studios and contractors that actually do e.g. metal casting, modern musicians use engineers/producers to create the actual beats, a film score writer probably isn't a skilled trombonist etc.
IMHO creativity is about decision making - its closer to "taste" and doesn't require skill to be a unique and special talent in itself. Its a bit like the Jobs/Woz divide.
Re: Creativity Is Much More Than 10k Hours of Deliberate Practice
#50The difference is that kids have creativity and use all skills in a not conforming way to express is. If you are grownup you think you have to e.g. paint good in way X too be successful. Nobody have to master creativity but the most people say famous artists are so much creative.