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The Secret to Creativity

A very intelligent man once said,

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

That person was Albert Einstein.

Recently, I received a email from a colleague who very kindly, complimented my work. He then went on to write:

I don’t know the status quo between fellow renderers, but if it is anything like the architectural community then there is a free flow of information and knowledge tempered by the fact that our peers and friends are our competitors.  If you wouldn’t mind talking to someone who is a few years your junior, then please feel free to email me.

First, let me add by saying that “a free flow of information” and it being “tempered” are two, totally different concepts. You cannot have a “free flow” of information if it’s being limited in the first place.

When I started out as a graphics artist, I read all the books, online tutorials, and forums that I could find. I taught myself everything because I couldn’t afford several thousands of dollars in classes at the time. The information that existed out on the web was fairly limited. As I joined forums, I would start asking questions of other artists whose work I admired – hoping that they would part with a morsel of their techniques so that I could learn from them.

More often than not, I was met with a flat-out refusal. Artists simply didn’t reply. A step up from that were the people who replied, but for one reason or another didn’t fully explain how or what they did to achieve an image. A good portion of their lack of explanation I blame on them not being able to clearly communicate to another person. These artists that I’d admire could go through the process, but in order to discuss their methods, I found that they often lacked the “socialization tools” to break an idea or technique down into simpler terms.

This brings me to my second Albert Einstein quote (which has often been misquoted and paraphrased):

It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience.

In other words, try to keep things as simple as possible. The majority of people in this world struggle with breaking down complex ideas into their step-by-step components.

I’d like to add another point to some artists’ perceived “lack of assistance” in tutoring others. Some people are simply busy, or they might even be lazy. However, time  and experience has taught me that if someone’s work is really good, then there’s probably a good chance that they are simply very busy.

Another point worth mentioning is that other artists may not want to get involved with your problems. On many occasions, I’ve encountered situations in which you start helping someone out, and you’ll find yourself spending weeks trying to solve somebody else’s problem that wasn’t even your own to begin with. Could you blame someone for not wanting to help you out? I’m sure that most people have much better things to do with their free time.

Last but not least is competition. Some view competition as healthy, and others view it negatively. The fact is that most of us struggle in this world. Not everyone is out to become rich, or if they are – they’re often struggling to even get to that level in the first place. Greed aside, there are those of us whom simply want to put food on our tables and eventually retire some day. All that we ask for is that we try to enjoy our jobs, and that we try to live comfortably within our means.

If I told you that “I knew the secret to becoming rich overnight”, would you want to know? Of course you would.

If I said, “I know of a method to press a button and out pops a remarkable piece of art instantly”, would you want to know that too? Yes.

How about, “my restaurant has a signature dish that people come to try from all around the world.” Would you want to know that recipe? The better question is, “would I be willing to share my recipe to you?” If I give you the recipe, than others will be able to quickly reproduce that dish, and I will probably harm my own livelihood. I’m not trying to be a “greedy” by not sharing, but rather I’m trying to protect myself and business from falling apart. Everything I worked towards revolves around this one dish, and to give it away would be suicide.

There’s a concept that dates back to the time of early man, in which a person learns over a period of time the techniques used to get to a certain point of expertise. It’s called an apprenticeship. A person simply doesn’t pick up a hammer one day and declares themselves a blacksmith the next. Does a master blacksmith know some secret techniques to achieve certain results? Yes, a master probably does.

The same concept of apprenticeship applies to almost every creative field. A person starting out should probably learn the underlying techniques to get from Point A to Point B. This in turn gives them a better understanding of the entire process, and will help them appreciate the beauty and simplicity of these shortcuts later on. It also gives the apprentice the tools needed to help solve other issues instead of just relying on this “one trick pony.”

In today’s world, a lot of people think they are entitled to a handout. In part, I blame this on impatience and shorter attention spans. Some people simply don’t want to go through all of the hard work to get to the end result. However, I had to struggle all of these years through having to teach myself to get to where I’m currently at,  so why shouldn’t you? Isn’t that only fair?

There is no such thing as a complete “free flow of information.” As long as there are people in this world, this philosophical concept will never truly exist. The sharing of ideas and techniques are more representative of a faucet that has been intentionally left partially open to drain.

3 replies
  1. jeff stikeman says:

    Hi Charles.

    I try to help when I can, simply because i got so much help myself. But at some point, it really isn’t anything that can be reduced to a step-by-step procedure anyway. Steve Oles wrote a literal book, and has taught classes for decades, and still, there’s only one dude that can pull off a Steve Oles look, and that’s Steve Oles.

    I was asked one time how I did my work, and would I care to share some methods. I explained as far as I could that first I modeled and lit a project, then rendered it out, and would then overpaint in photoshop. “No, no, no, I mean, how do you DO it. Like, do you use filters and brushes or what?” …so I went further, and said, “sure, yeah, I make my own brushes in photoshop, simple ones, and then paint over a glorified wireframe that was rendered in 3d… maybe some textures or filters, to break down unwanted detail, while adding detail in other areas like the center of interest”

    the caller persisted… “That’s great, but actually, can you tell me step by step how you actually do a rendering? I have a rendering to do for a client and they liked yours and would like me to replicate it, because they don’t have the money to get a real rendering done, so I mean, just can you tell me how do I do a rendering that looks like yours?” and I said “Sure, first, go to architecture school for ten years…”

    Reply
  2. cleo says:

    @ jeff stikeman lol Jeff. For some reason I did think about you after writing this article. It was more of a, “what would Jeff think about this?” thought.

    Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a completely shrewd person that will sit back and watch someone suffer. If they ask, generally I respond. There’s plenty of helpful information on this blog if someone is willing to take the time to read. I have plenty of techniques that I employ but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I’m a completely open book either. A large part of it is that there’s only so many hours in any given day to have some of these more technical discussions. The other part is that teaching can be a full-time occupation.

    As for myself, I did get some help but as a whole, I struggled for years to teach myself from scratch. I’d ask some members, “how did you achieve that daylight scene? What render settings did you use? Would you mind sharing” Not even a response from 98% of them. And the few that did respond, they definitely didn’t tell you the whole story or the most important parts.

    I’d definitely consider you creative. Perhaps in your situation, Einstein is partially wrong.

    There’s a slight separation between an artistic eye and looking at how things could be, and the actual technique. Bob Ross for example would show you the techniques he would use and explain how it works, but at the end of the day, it would be impossible to predict his layouts (maybe he was referencing a photograph off screen? I don’t know…) There’s a mystery there that I don’t think anyone could ever predict unless you’ve ordered their DVDs and watched them religiously.

    A long time ago, I broke down Linear Workflow step-by-step on the Chaos forum for the masses – picking up the conversation from Rob Nederhost (throb.) While I wasn’t the originator of the technique, I demystified it for non-Hollywood compositors and lighters. I obtained the “Holy Grail” of realism at the time in my hands, but also had a few questions that needed answering. So I made the decision to talk about it publicly and show people how to reproduce those steps.

    Now, a majority of Vray artists are using the LWF methodology. They can follow it step-by-step. They realize that it produces a more realistic look. However, the majority of them also don’t know why it works the way it does. It’s to their detriment.

    I really could have had a big advantage in the industry if I didn’t talk about it. On the other hand, I’ve seen the community raise its collective bar. Support for some materials are there that wouldn’t have been otherwise. I even discussed it with some of the Vray programmers and had some of my requests implemented within the software. Blowing the proverbial lid on this technique had both positive and negative consequences.

    As for you, you have a very distinctive signature that’s completely your own artistic style. When it comes to realism however, some of us do have a “signature” (framing, camera angles, tone, etc.), but photorealism is almost something we can all agree upon. It simply boils down to: “wow, that looks like a photograph.” And due to that finite direction, photorealism has become a fairly competitive art and business. It’s unfortunate because it’s not an easy thing to do and not everyone sees it as an art form – mostly due to lack of knowledge regarding the topic.

    Reply
  3. Diana says:

    I’m a photographer who found your blog from the NPR article, but thought I’d comment on this topic. In general, I’m willing to share a lot of knowledge with budding photographers. The same knowledge that was shared with me FREELY. However, as I hone my craft things that I struggled and finally mastered I don’t share in detail. I’ll give a general idea, but not a lighting diagram.

    Instead, my ultimate goal is to eventually do an apprenticeship program through a local high school. Find someone who loves photography and bring them in as an intern. Train them, teach them, one-to-one. I’d rather be a mentor to one, then spend all my time helping an anonymous person online who probably won’t even bother to thank me.

    Reply

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