ART – Why You Should Do Creative Experimentation

I was listening to an episode of the Lean Into Art podcast the other day and co-host Jerzy Drozd said something that really got me thinking when it came to experimentation. I’m going to get to what he said in a moment.

It just so happens that I’ve been experimenting a bit.  Just playing around,  and checking out some possibilities.  Below is one such experiment.

It’s a little animation test I did, to test out what might be possible with my characters using my copy of Storyboard Pro:

I’m debating whether or not I should do a little animated something.  I’m not sure yet.

Anyway, let me get back to what Jerzy said…

Experimentation Lead To…

Anyway, as I was listening to an episode of Lean Into Art, Rob Stenzinger and Jerzy Drozd got into the topic of experimenting. Then Jerzy popped in with this little “formula” of sorts, as if he’d memorized it from somewhere, about experimentation.  It went like this:

“Experimentation leads to Practice, Practice leads to Evidence, Evidence leads to Opportunity.”

What he meant by this, if it seems odd to you, is simply this: When you experiment, you create and practice new things.  Often, you do these things so much that you begin getting good at them.

When you get good at stuff because you’ve practiced or messed around with the thing you’ve experimented with so much, it become evident you know your way around the subject.  It’s evidence that you have experience with what you experimented with.

This often leads people to ask you about the subject you seem to know so much about.  It opens up opportunities for people to, either ask you to do it for them, to teach others about the thing, or to find other useful reasons to do that thing.  It’s possible to find many opportunities to use the knowledge you gained from what you originally began experimenting with.

I thought Jerzy’s little formula made a lot of sense and I thought I’d share it.  It gives you a very concrete practical reason to experiment as much as possible.

I wish I could remember what episode of the podcast I was listening to, otherwise I’d link directly to it.  Perhaps it’s better that I don’t remember.  That way, you have an excuse to go listen to the Lean Into Art podcast and try to find the episode yourself.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve been given something to really think about after listening to the podcast.  Rob and Jerzy often come up with some amazing things during their discussions.

I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t already.

Lean Into Art