Random VS. Creative

"You are soooo random!"
"BACON IS WOOOO"
"I'm a potato..."

Guys, let me cut to the chase. There is a huge difference between being random versus being creative. You all know that one person; the person (who might happen to be a huge Invader Zim fan, just saying) who says completely random things in social situations and is then dubbed as being funny and original..... Being random can make you seem interesting at times, but in the art world, randomness usually only works best with abstract art, and even then, the best abstract art comes from real emotion and focus.

Creativity

Yes, creativity requires for a person to be original and have a mind open to new ideas; but for the originality to be of any use, it must be an appropriate response to the situation. We are blessed with minds which have the ability to think non-linearly and deviate from a set path; we are able to come up with multiple solutions to difficult situations; but in order for our solutions to work, they need to fit into certain parameters... it's not that you can't think outside the box... sometimes you just need to be inside of it in order to step out..

Leigh Rubin's Comic: www.gocomics.com/rubes/2012/06…

Let me take you through Leigh Rubin's, a successful illustrator, brain storming process. The artist was presented with a situation, the Mayan Calender hype of 2012. Drawing upon the 2012 myth as a means of attracting the viewers wasn't something 'original' in itself, as many people their own speculations about it . Leigh Rubin thought to himself, "Hmm, how can I utilize this situation to elicit the best response from my audience?" Thinking it through, they came up with an inventive idea- the calender, is set in stone, yes, but wouldn't it be funny if the calender had more 'pages' underneath it like a modern calender? Of course, the idea is silly and the circumstance improbable, but it's an innovative way of looking at things, a good utilization of his thought process. Even if you are a person who is quite logical and barely ever grin when looking at comics, this one at least might make you realize that there must have been a creative mind behind it.

Randomness

Being random is something that can be funny, at times, but it is not as creative nor is there as much thought put behind it. It's just the outcome of your brain spinning a thought without much creative strings to it. In the art world, being 'creative' is a much more valuable skill than being 'random'. For example? In order to not offend anyone, I'll pull off an example from my own work.

iMoosker's Comic: pocketmutt.deviantart.com/art/…

In this drawing, I was meaning to be silly and random. The drawing of a taxidermied, golden-toothed, shaggy, cigar-smoking, blunt-antlered moose mounted on a cabin wall... is quite random; only the text in my Artist Comment's give light to any specific meaning, and even then the meaning is obscured- without any signs of creative intention. In the end, my drawing comes from a random thought process. Let me take you through the process. I was drawing a moose, but without any references I decided to smooth out the antlers and not give it a body. I ignored the drawing for a while and decided to mount the head on a stand, and give it a cigar... and why not a golden tooth? So yes, my whole thought process was quite random. And although some may think I was being creative (thanks for thinking so!) I know that I wasn't.

What does it take?

So what exactly does it take to be creative? Pulling out my dusty Psychology text book, I took a peek to see if it said anything on the subject. According to Robert J. Sternberg, a prominent figure in the research of human intelligence, creativity does in fact require much work.

Expertise- In order to be creative you need a "well developed base of knowledge that furnishes ideas, images and phrases we use as mental building blocks" (David G. Myers, 411). You can't build up from the ground if you don't have any blocks, like ideas and mental sets of the world around you. You, yes you reading this right now, are lucky to be familiar with the internet. The internet is a great place to browse around and look for something new that catches your interest.... you can also always flip through magazines, art books, and photo albums for inspiration.

Imaginative thinking skills- You need to be able to see a situation and think of all the possible ways to reorganize patters and make new connections. Here's a little test to see if you are good at this: think of as many uses as you can for a a paper clip. Go! If you can think of close to a hundred, then hey, congratulations, you are pretty imaginative!

A venturesome personality- Hey, if you are reading this, you were bored and you were try to find something new, to seek out an unfamiliar experience. That's great, because in order to be creative you need to have a personality in which you can tolerate ambiguity, and enjoy taking risks once in a while.

Intrinsic motivation- "Creative people focus less on extrinsic motivators- meeting deadlines, impressing people, or making money- than on the pleasures and stimulation of the work itself" (David G. Myers) As yourself this question. If for some reason, you wouldn't ever be able to share your artwork with anyone else, would you still do art? If you answered yes, then you definitely have the intrinsic motivation required to be creative. Extrinsic motivation is always just a second factor, but not a necessary one for you.

A creative environment- Surround yourself with things that will inspire you... Watch artists who you know will spark, support and refine the creative ideas that you already have!

And I added this one on myself...
The ability to carry through your work- Your mind can be buzzing full of great ideas, but if you don't take the time to carry through and finish the work that you've started, you've done this all in vain. Why start something and never finish? Why have great ideas but never even have the power to start? And that's the key factor.

TLDR; What I'm saying here is...

"In order to think outside the box, you need to be inside of it" -iMoosker / PocketMutt 2012