The Wrong Tool for the Job
Something that’s thrown around far too often in any creative sector is ‘Industry Standard.’ There’s a standard way to shade something, the standard way to do selective color, the list goes on and on. Often, there’s no problem with that, they’re the tested and true methods to our creative madness. The real problem lies with those that accept these methods as the absolute way to accomplish something, and scoff at those that dare to try something different.
This sort of attitude seems to be most common amongst artists I meet that are formally trained in their craft; they took some drawing classes over the summer, or have their degree in graphic design. They’re all too quick to throw out a “you’re doing it wrong!” at your every action. But are you really doing it wrong?
There’s No Such Thing as a Wrong Way!
You read that right. In art, there’s no such thing as wrong. Now before some of you jump down my throat, true in some industries there are in fact, very specific things that need to be a certain way. You can’t exactly turn in a flyer for print in RGB, design a business card with no bleed, or turn in a Vector image saved with a .avi extension.
That aside, I stand by that statement 100%. You cannot do it wrong. So what if took you half an hour to manually desaturate a photograph with the sponge tool? There are certainly more efficient ways to accomplish that task, but it’s not what’s best for you. Often, using what you’re most comfortable with will lead to better results, and it will definitely show in your work.
Time after time, I watch people do waht feels unnatural to them, simply because they were told it’s the only way to do it. When I was in first grade, I was constantly scolded because I happen to hold my pencil in a very odd way. I was perfectly capable of holding it the ‘correct’ way (between my index finger and thumb), but my handwriting would suffer. I simply was much more comfortable with my way, and I never understood why it was such a big deal.
Break the Mold
The real danger of this perceived taboo of doing things your own way, is for creativity itself. I once met a girl who’s teacher had once told her to never mix paints, if you wanted purple you simply got purple paint. It blew my mind. There were entire hues of color that this artist flat out refused to use, because she believed it was wrong. Art itself is all about reinventing the wheel; if you simply stick to what’s standard at the time, you’ll have a much harder time creating something unique.
Take a good look at your creative process, and ask yourself why you take each step. Is it because you discovered that it worked for you, or is it because someone told you it worked? Don’t end up working against your own style and creativity, take some time to experiment! Try holding your brush a new way, find alternate methods to create effects, use some unorthodox tool to carve your clay. Get out there and show them that building a picture frame out of used mustard packets just as great as wood.
Brandon Diaz is the creator of The Corrupted Canvas. He's a web designer with a pretty severe caffeine addiction. He's avid about many things including web standards, web development, various teas, and game design. If you'd like to get in touch you can find him on Twitter.
