If you don’t wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them. You can tell yourself that you don’t have the time or resources to do ‘em right. Then they stay around in your head like brain crack. No matter how bad things get, at least you have those good ideas that you’ll get to later.

Some people get addicted to that brain crack. And the longer they wait, the more they convince themselves of how perfectly that idea should be executed. And they imagine it on a beautiful platter with glitter and rose petals. And everyone’s clapping for them. But the, but the, but the, but the bummer is most ideas kinda suck when you do ‘em. And no matter how much you plan you still have to do something for the first time. And you’re almost guaranteed the first time you do something it’ll blow. But somebody who does something bad three times still has three times the experience of that other person who’s still dreaming of all the applause.

Kinda what I started out fighting with jacobmake, but lately I’ve been high on brain crack. Watch the video here.

So, how does someone have the commitment to create a masterpiece? You would have to be an expert in your medium, and have the longevity to work on something (and like it) for an extended period of time. It’s easy to struggle with commitment when working on projects. There are so many reasons to quit. Good ideas are hard enough to find. Most, when realized are less impressive than when conceived. Others surprise you, and turn into something different than originally planned. I am in awe of people, like Harris, who are this committed to their work. It’s not easy to do something amazing, even if you are uber-talented.

Random Math + color, line & shape continue to be my muse. I aspire to create things like Robert Hodgin. Perhaps it’s time to return to what I know best. To switch drawing tools… to put down the pen or brush and return to the keyboard. My hope is that I won’t spend too much time waffling about medium.

Just a little while ago I made some comments about Chuck Close’s process. Since then I’ve revisited Joshua Davis’s site and downloaded his presentation from 07. For those that don’t know Joshua Davis, he is an artist that takes design elements and uses random math in Flash to position things, generating a thousand new compositions w/ each click of a button.

It was pretty ironic to see that Joshua pokes a fun at Chuck’s “process”. Davis uses Close’s work as a backdrop to some of his code samples. Davis finds kind of an interesting relationship between Close’s process and the his own process which includes a computer “processor”, that takes care of all the grunt work.

More than once I’ve vowed to return to analog means, but eventually I’d like jacobmake to develop a niche. The thing I’m most interested is generative art. Random math, shape and color appeal to me, especially the way Joshua Davis lays it out. In that 2007 presentation (which is basically just the slideshow from his actual presentation) he draws a line between himself and more “pure” programmatic generative artists like Casey Raes and the Processing gang.

I like the automation of Joshua Davis’s, but i’m missing the hands-on human element. Maybe i could find a mix, re-drawing computer generated art? Putting it through a human process? It would be a much slower version of how a computer can draw something, it would retain the human imperfections that live in Close’s work. Sounds like a pretty crack-head process I know.

Most NES games come with an NSF (Nintendo Sound File), that is next to impossible to convert w/out downloading 15 kinds of 3rd party software (most un-available on mac). But that won’t even work for me, because I trolled through the NSF file and couldn’t find the effect from the game I wanted. It’s really just a series of bloops and bleeps. My next attempt was trying to capture the sound while running the ROM. I haven’t found out how to capture sound “internally”, thus it goes through my speakers, back into the mic and kills the whole clean 8-bit synth effect. I’m spending waaay to much time on this little delve into 8-bit sound land, but hope to have something to show soon.

UPDATE: God Bless the $30 app maker. I found exactly what I needed.

After the TwitterFace project is complete, I’m thinking about going analog on the next project. I have recently obtained a high def camcorder and a table saw, both tools could allow for a new medium on JacobMake and I’m looking for projects that could incorporate them. (No I’m not going to saw up my camera.) Is it wrong to get inspired by the tool or process? I ran across an interesting quote by Chuck Close the other day that I found, well….uninsipiring;

Inspiration is for amatuers. I just get to work.

and

What I found that one of the nice things [about] working incrementally is that I don’t have to reinvent the wheel every single day. Today I did what I did. You can pick it up and put it down. I don’t have to wait for inspiration. There are no good days or bad days. Every day essentially builds positively on what I did the day before. … Given my nature, I believe it was very good for me to be able to add to what I already had and slowly construct the final image out of these little building blocks.

This raises a great question about process. Chuck managed to get past the blank canvas block by working incrementally. His process freed him of too much thought. I love Chuck’s work, but technically isn’t this kind of repetitive mechanical “work” more suited for craft?

World, meet Ella Grace Heberlie.

The purpose of this blog is to document my own creative process. In hindsight, I may have been driven to this effort due to a personal prenatal circumstance. Perhaps it was an attempt to hold on to my identity and my ability to think creatively before it gets washed away with minivans and dance recitals. Since the birth of my daughter I’ve found that all of these concerns were…..silly. If anything the experience has allowed me to feel very mortal (in a good way) and has given me the ability to appreciate and experience life in a whole new way.

As for the future, the birth of a child and a freelance flood has really taken it out of me. I will resume things here in the near future.

“Music or Art. Use your hands & get away from the keyboard.”

It dawned on me that all of my projects push my comfort levels in some respect, but in the arena of fine art and music, I’m amateurish at best. I would feel much more comfortable developing experimental motion and interactive projects behind the warm glow of my Powerbook, but creating something “real” (not 1s and 0s) seems to somehow have more value. It would also be a more exciting creative process I think.

Ultimately I hope to cover both interactive projects and those that fall in the category of “other”. Is the creative process that produces a physical object somehow more valid than one that does not? What about something as timeless writing music? Better than writing code?

Maybe the process is more important than the result.

It’ll work like this;

1. I’ll post potential project concepts.
2. Based on audience feedback and personal interest, I’ll select a project.
3. I’ll document the progress of the project right here for the world to see.
4. I won’t start a new project until the one in progress is realized and posted.

Possible upcoming projects?

• A flash based zombie game
• Watercolor & ink works of creek critters.
• Music of some kind.

Stay tuned.