4 Things I Learned from Creativity IncBook ReviewARTiculations

I recently read a book called Creativity Inc
by Ed Catmull, who is the co-founder of Pixar Animation and currently the President of both
Pixar and Disney Animation. This book is essentially a collection of wisdoms and stories that Catmull
has accumulated over his long career of establishing and maintaining a successful creative company.
While I dont align with with every single argument made in it, I definitely found some
great ideas that I think could be useful for anybody working in a creative field or environment.
So here are a few things I've learned. One of the first things that Catmull addresses
in the book was what happened after they completed Pixars first feature film - Toy Story.
They basically did something that no one has ever done before - created the first animated
feature film completely from computer graphics - one of Catmulls childhood dreams, which
also became an immediate box office success. Youd think Ed would be ecstatic about this
but instead he was faced with this hollow lost feelings" with "no sense of purpose
as he describes it.

This may seem strange but in reality thats what happens to a
lot of us when weve focused single-mindedly on one goal for so long. You become lost and
dont know what to focus on next. And it takes a lot of work to get back on track.
Later Catmull references a similar metaphor that he actually learned from George Lucas,
whom he worked with, that went something like this Building a company was like being
on a wagon train headed west, on the long journey to the land of plenty the pioneers
would be full of purpose and be united by the goal of reaching their destination. Once
they arrived, people would come and go and thats as it should be.

But the process
of moving toward something - of not having yet arrived was what he idealized." When many people think of successful creative
outputs - whether its a movie or a product - they think that some person must have come
up with a great idea. While that may be true in some circumstances Catmulls perspective
is that no idea exists independently in a vacuum. He talks about how great ideas are
seldomly spawned from just one person. And its almost always many people adding onto
an idea that eventually makes it great.

I. Think this is in general a healthy perspective
to have. It can increase the value of teamwork and collaborative approaches. It makes it
counterproductive to compete against or be jealous of a coworker.

It make it easier to
work with other people who are either smarter, more skilled or more experienced than you
- because in a team, those positive traits in others are helpful to you instead of being
threatening to you. In a part of the book, Catmull explored how
many of the films they made, the ideas in the beginning were just plain terrible. I
can definitely relate to this because my own creative projects - whether theyre designs,
art projects, or videos like the one youre watching right now - are just absolutely terrible
in the beginning. I often have to rework an idea like a bajillion times to make it better,
or sadly sometimes abandon a bad idea entirely.

And thats kind of why its important
to not get so attached to your ideas. This is hard of course, because its almost like
having to throw out your own baby in the trash can - which is of course something you should
only do metaphorically, not literally. So many of us get personally offended when someone
else shoots down our idea, which is definitely something Ive been guilty of in the past.
But we need to take a step back and realize they are not attacking you as an individual
- they are just making honest assessments on the idea. And that its okay to defend
an idea that you can back up with strong arguments, but when you cant - you need to be willing
to let it go.

For many people who have not practiced drawing
or painting, they may wonder how artists can depict a scene or object so accurately. Catmull
points out that the biggest differences is that artists have been trained in careful
observation. Basically, our brain has a tendency to jump to conclusions, or fillling in the
gaps in our visual field, instead of taking in every single thing we see. Catmull gives
the example of getting someone to paint a picture of a lake.

A person may be inclined
to think that the lake must be blue and goes to put down a field of blue on a piece of
paper but then realizes it doesnt quite look right. Upon closer observation, the person
realizes that the lake isnt in fact actually blue, its actually patches of green, yellow,
black and flashes of white. A good artists has learned to be aware of these preconceptions
and suppress their minds tendency to jump to conclusions. And in this sense - something
like art classes isn't really about learning how to draw, its about learning how to
see.

Thus, even if you are a person who doesnt aspire to be a painter, illustrator or animator,
learning the skills of objective observation and setting aside preconceptions are tools
that can be beneficial for anyone. So these are just a few great insightful ideas
that I got from this book. And there are many more where those came from. So if you found
these ideas helpful, Id definitely recommend giving this book a read.

Thanks for watching and this is the first
book review Ive ever done. Let me know if you guys like this kind of stuff and would
like to see more. If so, please leave your Art/Creativity book recommendations in the
comments. Bye!.