The Problem of a Creative Thought-Personal Reflection. by Ivan Kostynyk

Whenever I have an idea (I refer to “creative” idea), I try to expend it as much as possible and translate it onto a paper with a good accuracy. Generating creative ideas is not a simple task. I guess it’s not even a task. The problem of an idea lies in its short but powerful appearance. Thoughts are random signals interpreted by our brain, and in this case, it’s the left hemisphere of “my” brain that generates such “ideas”. To me, they are very powerful, because most of the times, they are filled with extreme excitement and a will. Now, the will becomes an important because it is the source of an action. I find myself a lazy person from time to time; therefore, generating a creative idea is something powerful and exciting. Once an idea progresses into a strong image, it is crucial to remain focused as ideas, my friends, don’t last long.
So, here’s an image playing in my head, and I need to record it. That’s what I do. I finally create a concept of an idea. It first looks very rough and messy. I correct it a couple of times, and leave it for later. Sometimes, if I’m lucky enough, I generate another idea which is inspired by the original concept. That doesn’t happen often, so I go with the original concept. I lay it off for a while, thinking what to do next. Usually, when all this happens, it is around 12-1 AM in the morning, and I go straight to bed. It’s strange though that most of my creativitism is pouring out of me at night. I have a theory that may only apply to me, but also may apply to other artists/designers in this world. Throughout a day, my brain receives messages from various of sources, like (mostly) internet, people and the environment around me. At the end of the day, all of the messages are processed, and faxed to the left hemisphere of my brain. This is where all the creativitism is born.
Let’s go back to the generated concept idea. Now that the idea is on the paper, it is time to finish the job. Here’s when a problem occurs. To demonstrate the problem, I’ll give you an example.
I once had a concept idea of a robot that I would later name K-10. The idea itself was strong, and I’d imagine every detail of the illustration. As I sat drawing, I realized it needed a lot of editing. After the second concept illustration, something was bothering me. I just now realized what it was. I was struggling to understand the 3D layout of the robot and its anatomy. You see, at the time, I didn’t know what was wrong with the illustration. I’d think of different 3D shapes in the illustration, and struggling to understand why I put certain shapes/lines there. Then I started asking questions like: “Why is that shape there?”, What role does it play in robot’s anatomy?”, “Is the anatomy of the robot correct in the first place?”. Then, on the other hand, my left side of the brain was encouraging me saying: “This is how it’s supposed to be, you are an artist, not an engineer. Don’t worry about the anatomy or the mechanics, no one will notice!”
Then I started to get confused, and after 4th editing, I left the concept alone. Now I realize that I was struggling to understand the mechanics, the physics, and the anatomy of the concept, which impacted my thinking. The right hemisphere of my brain plays a huge role in the process of designing-illustrating. But the left hemisphere remains dominant. It is important to use scientific thinking and collaborate it with creativitism, which this is all about. Some artists don’t even use scientific thinking in their artworks, and I often notice errors that mess up the idea of an artist. Still, I think that it is more valuable to use my creative side of the brain and ignore the “scientific” one. That’s the whole problem of my creative thinking.