Category: Creativity

“But unless we are creators we are not fully alive.”

Just start

“Half of us are waiting for permission; for someone to say okay, for someone to say do it, for someone to say that is a good idea, [for] someone to give you the money, [for] someone to give you the resources. When I just decided that I’m going to work with what I’ve got and give myself the permission, then it really started.”
– Ava DuVernay

The hardest part of tackling any project is taking that first step to get it started. It is so easy to talk yourself out of doing something worthwhile or trying something new when you haven’t jumped in and committed yet. The potential risks always dwarf the potential rewards from your spot on the fence.

What’s the thing that has been kicking around in the back of your head? Figure out what the first step toward achieving or doing that thing is, and then go do it.

Creativity Pressgram

Breaking the artistic comfort zone

Post author By Melodie Turori
Post date July 15, 2014
No Comments on Breaking the artistic comfort zone

Editing, shooting, writing, and graphic design are all in my wheelhouse. They’re skills I’ve honed for years–some for more than a decade. I’m always active in at least one of these on work days

The more creative work becomes part of my daily routine, the more creative ruts I land in.

One of the things that helps break the rut experimentation. For me, it works best when it’s in a medium I’m not familiar with. Like painting. A couple weekends ago I finally finished a set inspired by tivaevae.

Tags dp365

Creativity

Daylight savings, a haiku

Post author By Melodie Turori
Post date March 9, 2014
No Comments on Daylight savings, a haiku

Peaceful predawn sound
Inky, navy, washed out denim
The sun arrives.

Creativity

12 Little Stories: a creative challenge for 2014

Post author By Melodie Turori
Post date January 20, 2014
No Comments on 12 Little Stories: a creative challenge for 2014

12 Little Stories is a monthly creative challenge designed to get you out making something new. Stretch yourself creatively, try a new technique, take a risk.

In theory, each prompt could be completed from start to finish in a single afternoon. Of course, you’re free to spend as much time as you like planning and creating.

Tags 12LittleStories

Creativity

Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture, 2006

Post author By Melodie Turori
Post date January 6, 2014
No Comments on Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture, 2006

“Fandom, after all, is born of a balance between fascination and frustration: if media content didn’t fascinate us, there would be no desire to engage with it; but if it didn’t frustrate us on some level, there would be no drive to rewrite or remake it.”

Tags fandom

Creativity

Storytelling on Twitter

We live in an exciting time for storytellers. Technology and the Internet are providing so many opportunities to tell stories in fresh, exciting ways. I love that Fitzgerald calls Twitter storytelling a new frontier. Working out how to properly tell a story through digital structures does feel a bit like exploring the wild west. There aren’t any established laws, just the thrill (and terror) of doing something that few have done before you.

Saddle up! The transmedia possibilities are waiting for you.

Creativity Pressgram

Slow growing oaks

Post author By Melodie Turori
Post date November 5, 2013

Oak trees are slow to grow. This particular oak has been around since before I was born, yet it still looks more like a shrub than a tree.

Makes me feel a little better when I think about how much faster I’d like my creative skills to grow into something that looks more mature to the outside world. This isn’t a race to see who can mature into a full tree first. It’s about cultivating your skills at a steady, appropriate rate.

Through the awesome times of bumper crop creativity and the painful frustration of drought, keep stretching outwards.

Tags california, pressgram, silhouette

Creativity

Staying inspired through reading

Post author By Melodie Turori
Post date July 29, 2013
No Comments on Staying inspired through reading

My how time flies when you’re working hard on a new project. Before you know it, months have passed since the last time you wrote. Oops.

I’ve been feeling a burn out coming on for the last couple weeks, so I’ve scaled back on some of my work to make time for “fun” reading. Reading is my favorite way to refill the creative well and refresh the soul, but when I’m pressed for time, it is also the first thing I cut out. Ditching fun reading is an unfortunate habit I picked up in college that is perpetuated by a workaholic nature.

Creativity

Gut churn and the creative process

Post author By Melodie Turori
Post date May 4, 2013
No Comments on Gut churn and the creative process

“At the beginning it always felt like life or death.”

Creativity

Refresh your perspective

There comes a point in every creative project where you hit the proverbial wall. It might be writer’s block, designer’s block, or an unexpected problem. When you hit the road block you have a couple of choices. You could continue to fight until you break through the barrier. Or you could try hitting the pause button for a while instead.

One of the projects I’m currently developing is a feature-length documentary film that I’ve been calling The Quilting Thing (no, that’s not even a working title). In the early stages it was all research. Everything was zipping along with positivity and sunshine. However, when it came time to turn research into a treatment and a business plan, the storm arrived.

Every time I looked through my notes my frustration increased. It looked like a mess of information that went in ten directions with no connecting threads weaving everything together. Nothing to serve as a foundation for the story. No story? No film.