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| John Lasseter |
We recently watched a documentary called "The Pixar Story." Lots of great information about John Lasseter and Steve Jobs and all of the creative people who work at that studio. I have to admit that I truly LOVE pretty much every picture they've created and would watch them all even without kids. my favorite is definitely "The Incredibles."
I recently ran across some creative wisdom from Mr. Lasseter here and thought I'd share it with you a bit at a time over the next few weeks.
1. Never come up with just one idea
“Regardless of whether you want to write a book, design a piece of furniture or make an animated movie: At the beginning, don’t start with just one idea – it should be three. The reason is simple. If a producer comes to me with a proposal for a new project, then usually he has mulled over this particular idea for a very long time. That limits him.
“My answer always reads: ‘Come again when you have three ideas, and I don’t mean one good and two bad. I want three really good ideas, of which you cannot decide the best. You must be able to defend all three before me. Then we’ll decide which one you’ll realise.”“The problem with creative people is that they often focus their whole attention on one idea. So, right at the beginning of a project, you unnecessarily limit your options. Every creative person should try that out. You will be surprised how this requirement suddenly forces you to think about things you hadn’t even considered before. Through this detachment, you suddenly gain new perspectives. And believe me, there are always three good ideas. At least."
I love this. Don't get so close and focussed on the one piece you are working on now - or don't get obsessed with one little part that you loose sight of the whole.
What other ways can you think of to apply the "more than one idea" to your work as an artist.
Here is the rest of the series:
I love Pixar's animation movies, too. I think they are the best! Thanks for sharing and the link.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great thought! I actually used that idea recently with submitting some articles for publication. Brainstormed a lot of ideas, narrowed to three and submitted the 3 and am getting one published. Perhaps this would be a good idea to apply to ideas for a quilt show too. It might be difficult to bring 3 quilts to fruition before a deadline but at least 3 really good ideas first?
ReplyDeleteThis really hit home as I am very guilty of going with the first idea. Thanks.
ReplyDeletethank you for pushing me to think about what I'm doing instead of just plowing ahead as usual - I will probably still plow but will stand back and admire that plow and maybe plow in 3 different directions now:-)
ReplyDelete