EPISODE 08: YOUR CREATIVE BANK ACCOUNT

[Jake Parker]

Art by Tanner Garlick

We just launched episode 8! Check it out!

What is The Creative Bank Account? We have mentioned it a lot in past episodes and it’s about time we talked about the source of all good ideas: what it is, and we will share some of the best strategies for filling your personal creative bank account.

A creative bank account is something that everyone harbors in their own minds. It is creative capital and you spend this creative capital everytime you make something. Creative capital fuels all creative work: poems, drawings, artwork, writing, etc.

You can listen to the episode and read the show notes here

We'd love it if you had any more insight or shared your own experience with this topic, and let us know if your experience is different from what we talked about in the podcast.

[rcartwright]

When I lived in a big city I spent more time driving to work each day than I did painting

[Joen Söderholm]

Interesting episode. I think it ties in very well with both episode 1 and 3. What with the discussion about ideas, how to get them and how to actually turn them into something.

I try to write down my dreams as soon as I wake up. Even if they don't give you any interesting ideas, it makes you remember the unexpected things that your own brain was able to create. I think it helps with creativity.

Apparently I sometimes try to write down these dreams on my phone in the middle of the night. Which often makes me find interesting notes in my phone, like this one I just picked out at random:
"Sewn on clothes, wings. Illusion of facade things are not what they seem".

Thank you for your clear message, me from 3.55 A.M.

[holleywilliamson]

Thank you for this episode. I feel like I fill my creative bank account pretty well out of necessity from not being driven crazy by my kids. We have to get out and do things to keep them from fighting or having tantrums, but I also love exploring new areas for vacations. But translating that into ideas is another thing. A simple reminder to write ideas down is just what I need!

[Jason Bowen]

Interesting episode I enjoyed it as always... I use to write ideas down all the time especially when I wrote a lot but now I don't at all... I think if you have a great idea you would remember it, otherwise the idea isn't memorable enough and thus not that great.

[Lee White]

@jason-bowen i can understand that view point, but let me offer a different take. Many times big ideas start as a small grain of a thought or concept. They aren't fully formed yet. They grow and take shape and change over time. The big idea can come from connecting a lot of small seemingly random things.

Getting those small little hints down is vitally important for moving work forward and getting to the big idea for most people. I know it is for me! : )

[rcartwright]

You take a train ride to a magic place......so Harry Potter?$$$$

[Jason Bowen]

@lee-white I know what you mean but if everything is driving towards the great idea then every word or brush mark should be going in that direction... if I look at a dot to dot picture it looks false and wooden, but if I look at a drawing that wasn't formed by dots it looks smooth and natural... sometimes in creativity you have to give in to too much planning and allow some fluidity.

[Jason Bowen]

@lee-white Not saying your way isn't good too mind you.

[Joen Söderholm]

I think Sean Connery says it best in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade: "I wrote them down so that I wouldn't HAVE to remember them."

[Jason Bowen]

@joen-söderholm That was only in the script because it gave the book more importance.

[MissMushy]

Another good podcast, guys! I think the idea of taking yourself on a creative date that @Lee-White mentioned is from Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" .
I find recently that focus (or lack of focus) is my biggest challenge. So I tend to not want to do too much wandering off track for fear of losing focus completely. As a result, I can spend weeks and weeks in front of my desk just slogging along. ( I also love solitude so that doesn't help)
The podcast was a good reminder that actually living life is ok too - and I shouldn't feel guilty about reading a book or watching Shrek again. I guess the trick for me is knowing when I am filling my creative bank vs when I am just procrastinating!

[Eli]

@missmushy YES!!! Finding that distinction and that balance is such a tricky challenge!!

[Joen Söderholm]

@jason-bowen does that change that writing stuff down is a good way to keep track of it?

We all have different approaches to our ideas. I don't think we can say that certain approaches will always end up with something more "false and wooden" than others. It's more about what works best for you. I like to write down my ideas because I know that I will forget even the good ones in my mind's constant flow of bad, mediocre and good ideas. Also, it's just interesting to look back at my own train (to a magical land) of thought.

[Jason Bowen]

@joen-söderholm I agree you should do what works best for you. I use to write every idea I had down and most of it was rubbish haha... I came to the conclusion that my great ideas are the ones I always remember.

[Laurel Aylesworth]

Thank you for this podcast. It's timely. I have two small kids and now that school is out for the summer, I have gone from 4 hours a day to work on my stuff to 0 minutes. Needless to say, my sense of progressing in illustration and my portfolio is dead in the water until the fall; however, this shifted my mindset from grouchiness and despair to more acceptance. Now I take a few moments to peruse art books, space out at the ocean, and plan trips to museums. I realize there are seasons for active work and seasons for more creative composting.

[Nathan]

Great podcast. Love the idea of the "ideas book".

The idea of an artistic date is from "The Artists Way" by Julia Cameron. I love taking time out of the week to re-energise my creative bank account

[AbbyLucero]

This podcast is great! It’s packfull of really useful and insightful stuff. Thank you! I have read Choose yourself and found writing my ideas geeat but I never did anything with them. But after the podcast, ship happens I’ve been motivated to make my ideas more than that!
I agree with @Lee-White I had trouble finishing a sketchbook for fear of “ruining” them. I’ve seen other people’s sketchbook online looking really nice and like a showcase book and as soon as I have a bad drawing in mine I abandon it! Referring to it as an idea book is a great idea. Oh! And isn’t the “taking a train to a magical place” idea pretty much Harry Potter?

[SarahLuAnn]

I missed this episode while I was on vacation but I am catching up! Lots of great thoughts here and I agree with so many of them, so to keep things short I’ll just say I love this episode. I came here to say that the Artists Date comes from the Artists Way book but I see that @Concept beat me to it.

[Samu]

Hi!

I practically agree with everything about the CBA and the ways you propose to feed it.

But to what point that methods creates a diference on our drawing capacity? I think not

I read comics and books all my life, I watch a loooot of films and series, I watch a lot Animation, Anime included (One Piece fan). I'm a sports person, I snowboard very decently, mountain biking, longboarding... I dance every day for 5 years now. I was an illustration collector and a professional Tattoo Artist for 10 years and professional Photographer and Retoucher last 3 years.

My CBA is good enough I believe....

And I don't have any way to access it. I'm very good at copying things, I can draw very good realism with a source or a model in front of me. But when it comes to creating something.... I'm blank! I can not picture in my mind the things I want to create.
I think that any regular person today has a biiiig CBA only from watching tv, films, series... any person. But some can actually access that CBA and others not. So my point is "Are you confusing the access capacity of the CBA with building that CBA"?

Thanks for your work. Is helping me a lot!!!!!

I let you with one of my tattoos made like 12 years ago.