Lesson Info
13. How to Innovate an Idea
Lessons
Class Introduction
07:25 2Overview of Brooke’s Journey
20:13 3Your Timeline is Nonlinear
05:37 4Using Curiosity and Intention to Build Your Career
03:26 5What Factors Dictate Growth
08:24 6Organic Growth vs. Forced Growth
05:18 7Niche Branding
04:57 8Brooke’s Artistic Evolution and Timeline
24:27How Can You Get Ahead if You Feel Behind?
10:02 10Ideation and Conceptualization to Identify Meaning in Your Art
05:54 11Idea Fluency
10:33 12How to Represent an Idea
07:01 13How to Innovate an Idea
07:07 14Creating a Dialogue With Your Art
05:48 15Conceptualization For a Series vs. a Single Image
03:43 16Transforming a Single Image Into a Series
03:12 17How to Tell a Story in a Series
03:28 18How to Create Costumes From Fabric
07:20 19Brooke’s Most Useful Costumes
02:19 20Using Paint and Clay as Texture in an Image
02:56 21Create Physical Elements in an Image
10:22 22Shooting for a Fine Art Series
05:45 23Conceptualization: Flowery Fish Bowl in the Desert
04:08 24Wardrobe and Texture
04:54 25Posing for the Story
05:32 26Choosing an Image
01:23 27Conceptualization: Rainy Plexiglass
11:34 28Posing for the Story
04:17 29Creating Backlight
02:37 30Photo Shoot #1 - Creating a Simple Composite
17:51 31Photo Shoot #2 - Creating a Dynamic Composite
06:31 32Photo Shoot #3 - Creating a Storytelling Composite
07:40 33Shooting the Background Images
06:14 34Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Working With Backgrounds
24:35 35Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Retouching the Subject
04:20 36Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Color Grading
02:45 37Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Floor Replacement Texture
15:24 38Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Final Adjustments
03:21 39Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Cropping and Editing Backgrounds
05:25 40Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Selective Adjustments
03:55 41Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Adding Texture + Fine Tuning
03:21 42Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Compositing Models
06:58 43Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Expanding Rooms
02:17 44Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Selective Color
02:47 45Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Selective Exposure
04:04 46Editing Composite Shoot #2- Masking Into Backgrounds
10:45 47Editing Composite Shoot #2- Creating Rooms in Photoshop
06:11 48Editing Composite Shoot #2- Compositing Hair
05:07 49Editing Composite Shoot #2- Global Adjustments
04:49 50Editing Composite Shoot #3- Blending Composite Elements
05:00 51Editing Composite Shoot #3- Advanced Compositing
08:46 52Editing Composite Shoot #3- Cleanup
03:34 53Materials for Alternative Processes
06:20 54Oil Painting on Prints
05:41 55Encaustic Wax on Prints
03:09 56Failure vs. Sell Out
05:14 57Create Art You Love and Bring an Audience To You
03:35 58Branding Yourself Into a Story
05:40 59The Artistic Narrative
05:26 60Get People to Care About Your Story
03:36 61Get People to Buy Your Story
11:36 62Getting Galleries and Publishers to Take Notice
03:41 63Pricing For Commissions
06:43 64Original Prints vs. Limited Edition Prints vs. Open Edition Prints
02:11 65Class Outro
01:00 66Live Premiere
16:14 67Live Premiere: Layers of Depth 1
04:41 68Live Premiere: Layers of Depth 2
07:12 69Live Premiere: Q&A
16:10 70Live Premiere: Photo Critique
47:33Lesson Info
How to Innovate an Idea
How can we use innovation in our art as another step beyond just representing a thing and making something symbolic? How can we innovate that thing? How could we make it truly interesting? How do we engage an audience? Well, three steps go into engaging in audience. First, there is a sense of idea. You have an idea. What is it gonna be? How are you gonna execute that idea? Then you have a sense of style. How are you going to execute that idea in your own way? With your flare? What's that gonna look like? What's it gonna be? The third thing is sense of innovation. How can you now do that thing in your style? That idea that you've come up with in a way that innovates people get stuck on those first two steps. We have an idea. We have a style. Let's do it. I'm gonna put it out there. But what about the innovation? How do you take it even further? And social media exacerbates this problem because we have a tendency to get stuck in instant gratification. An instant gratification tells us th...
at your sense of idea and sense of style are going to get more traction than innovation because you could do something that looks really good and you'll get attention for it. You can have a great idea and you'll get attention for it. But if you do something different, you lose people. They don't know what to do with that. What are they going to do when they stop on that work? That's innovative. It's a really difficult thing to balance. Audiences tend to be very slow at accepting new information, but they love to feed their expectations. An audience will always love toe, have their expectations met. It's up to you as an artist to exceed those expectations, to say I am an artist. Therefore, I am guessing at what you need, not what you want, because you don't know what you want, what you need, what can come beyond that expectation that you have, and it's a very difficult thing, and this is where opinion comes in. There are always going to be opinions about where that line is, where that innovation is, and I simply think that trying to do something that makes you uncomfortable is enough to innovate because it will probably make somebody else uncomfortable or move somebody in a way that's beyond what they would have been moved by. There are a lot of opinions floating out there that will always tell you that something is good enough or not good enough for everything in between. And I have heard every opinion that there is about my work. People have said You're just creating for shock value. You're just doing this because because you just want to and there's no thought behind it and you just want to shock people get attention. People have said, You know, um, I don't think that you're going deep enough in your work. You should go deeper People have said you're going to deep. I think that you should keep it more surface so no matter what you do, people will have an opinion about that thing and it's exhausting. And I have personally felt shame for not fulfilling other people's expectations of me, and that's a really dangerous place to be when you're sharing your art because you never, ever want to fall in the trap of thinking that other people know better than you, they do not and will not. So the question that you have to ask yourself is, How can I take this further for me? Just me, not anyone else's opinions. How can I take my art further? One way is that you can practice discomfort. You can practice being uncomfortable in your own artistic process because if you are not uncomfortable in your own artistic process, then you will find stagnation and you might find acceptance there. And it's a very tempting place to be. But it will never be a satisfying as being uncomfortable. Innovation means asking how you can make yourself uncomfortable and then doing that thing, do the thing that makes you uncomfortable. What does that look like for you? What does it feel like? Discomfort can come from many different areas. So don't mistake me saying discomfort for saying that you have to make other people upset for controversy. That's not necessarily what I'm saying. Discomfort can come from a concept that you're afraid to pursue a technique that you've never tried from sharing in a way that you've never shared before. I have personally found discomfort in many parts of my practice, from learning Photoshop and even to this day I find discomfort in Photoshop, certain concepts that I'm worried won't find the right group or land in the right way. Nudity. I have felt discomfort around photographing nudity. I mean, anything you can think of when it comes to something that you might do with your craft, there could be discomfort or there could be comfort. And for you, your discomfort or comfort might lie in a totally different place than mine does. So when you have an idea, I beg you to do these three things first. Stop asking if it's been done before. Just you just have to stop. I'm sick of it. We're not doing that anymore. Okay? Yes, it's been done before. So what? Nobody cares. Okay, Don't go. Google it. Don't go figure out what did this other person, how they do it. What's going on here? I have never done that because I know that I'm going to find what I don't want to see, which is discouragement from doing that thing that I really want to dio. If you have found an idea that sits right with you, do it despite anybody else having talked about that thing before, it doesn't have to be new. It just has to be new to you. And then after you've stopped Googling because please, I'm asking nicely now. Please stop. Then you have to move on, Thio, considering that it's already finished. So you have the idea now think of it is already done. Don't think of it is how am I gonna do this? Oh my gosh, This is so anxiety inducing. I feel really uncomfortable. Just envision the finished product. It's already done. You're just still taking the steps to get there. But it's already done. The future has come and gone at some point in time, right? I don't know timelines. We talked about that. So think of it that way. It's already done and then see your ideas of stepping stones. So if you end up at that final vision and it doesn't look how you want it to look, it's just a stepping stone. It doesn't matter. I mean, I think that's the most freeing thing about art. It doesn't matter. It's just something that you've produced and you will produce more things, and that's fine. And that's good. And it doesn't matter if you love it or if you hate it or if other people love it or hate it. It's just this one thing and we get so wrapped up in okay, I spent hours doing this and I'm finally doing it and putting it out there and and I'm so nervous. But why? It's just one moment in time that everybody's gonna forget. So who cares? So that's what we have to do when we have an idea we have Thio stop asking if it's been done before. Consider it already finished. And don't worry about the outcome so much because it doesn't matter. An idea doesn't have to be good. It just has to make your work stronger. And it will by definition, because it's work. And when you put the work in, you come out stronger. That's just how it works.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
Brooke never fails to deliver. I found this course superb from start to finish. From exercising your creative 'muscle', demystifying taking self portraits, and showing that they don't have to be perfect before you begin editing, to walking you through her editing process and how to price your work. Brooke's enthusiastic personality and excitement about the work shines through it all. Definitely recommended!
Rebecca Potter
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Brooke for this amazing class. Inspired and so full of practical knowledge, this is the best class I've ever watched. You have given me the confidence to pursue what I've always been afraid to do. Watch this space!
Søren Nielsen
Thank for fantastic motivating an very inspiring. The story telling and selling module was very helpful - thanks from Denmark