Creative industry has always been treated by the laymen as a subjacent discipline choice, especially in India, contrary to the plethora of career options it is progressively generating with the advent of media and technology. Internet, Social Media, Gaming and the now-cloud Streaming Film industry has triggered the growth of creative industry tremendously in the last 2 years. Creative Education is becoming the most popular and accessible career disciplines available today. More than 1000s of creative professionals are graduating from 100s of media schools every other month.
“An artist is not born, he is formed”
Now to a pertinent issue. With all these prevailing facts, why are we still artistically uninspired. Why do we still have an adverse imbalance in the Quality vs Quantity Equation when it comes to art and artists. With this article, we will try and deduce the causal factor to this gap.
Learning and Foundation
What is Learning?
Learning is the process of acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviours, skills, values, or preferences. In context, we can say that its the academic training you are pursuing to benefit your career.
We can stage this process in three Phases.
Acquiring Know-How :
This is the phase where you are learning all the how-tos! For inst. How to use a software, How to sketch, How to operate a camera, so on and so forth!
Acquiring Technology :
Here you will be introduced to all the technology which you will be using — Your software, your hardware, your tools, equipment, gear, gadgets and much more!
Acquiring Experience :
This is where you practise what you have learned from the know-how phase on the technology you have acquired in the second phase. The final phase of learning that makes you an expert in the technology and it’s know-how.
Seems complete, Ain’t it? Well, its not. We seem to be missing something, Something important. A Crux!
In all these three phases, where are we learning about Quality vs Quantity, Good vs Bad, Creative Success vs Creative Failure? This training makes you a technical expert but there are no guidelines here to set your artistic benchmark right. This is where learning falls. Hmm, If only it had a foundation!
What is Foundation?
A foundation is the element of any structure which connects it to the ground and transfers loads from the structure to the ground supporting the structure. There! Now we have the missing piece to the puzzle. The gap! Foundation. Let’s put Creative Industry back in context and study Foundation in detail. Learning can be providing by a pedagogue or an academy but building a foundation can only be set in motion by one self.
Exposure:
Follow, Watch, Read, Observe! Getting content is easier than ever these days with the abundance of communication vehicles available right at your fingertips. The first step to building your foundation is giving yourself enough exposure on what is happening around you. The world doesn’t end at your neighborhood, nor does it end with your country. Using feed assembly apps like Flipboard, Pinterest Youtube or Instagram will help you keep updated with the current affairs of your interests. Consume as much content as you can take!
Critical Consuming:
Okay, Now you’ve been exposed enough. What’s next? Put a filter on all that consumption! Take it what’s good and leave all the residue behind. This might seem tricker than it actually is in the beginning- how will you know what to take and what to ignore. Do trust the experts! Follow top reviewers, top design critics, you tubers etc to get an idea of what’s hot and what’s not!
(For eg: Film suggestions from Roger Ebert will definitely be worth it, A film that won an academy award in editing will definitely have good editing, A restaurant that has 3 michelin starts would definitely be worth visiting etc). A simple google search on “Bad fonts” will help you what not to use in your next short film poster! Mind that this is a phase that requires a little bit of effort!
Research:
This is where all the work happens. You know what’s good and bad — Now you’ve to spend time in finding out more about the good stuff. Knowledge is something that can never have a closure. Learn about the industry, it’s people, trends and rules. Recently I was shocked when someone who introduced himself as a graphic designer couldn’t name (not even) one graphic design trend. Keep striving as this is a highly competitive world we are living in, which will not stop or slow down for one person. Follow the pioneers from the respective industry (Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter) and know what they are upto. Once you’ve gone through these three phases of Foundation, you are all set to Learn!
(To be continued)
