Internal gymnastics of being a creative

This labour day weekend, I watched "Abstract, The Art of Design," the episode featuring Christoph Neimann, an illustrator whose works are often in the New Yorker, the New York Times and The National Geographic, while waiting for brownies to bake in the oven. In this episode, Niemann walks the audience through his illustration career and creative processes. Living in New York in Berlin, Niemann's life heavily influences his everyday work.

Through the video montage of him drawing on whiteboards, window panes or just at his desk, what amazes me is how Niemann injects a casual-ness in his illustrations and ideas. For example, the childlike nature of playing with lego forces the creator to think in a pixel-like manner, in which color blocks help convey an object. The use of colored blocks and different sizes of lego simplifies the process on how we view things, but creates a light-hearted nature to how Niemann uses lego to deliver a message. Using wide grey lego blocks, he uses a thin strip to portray the northern facade of the flatiron building and wider pieces to show the differences in surface area of the eastern and southern facade.

It is not surprising that he has translated this into his daily illustrations that can be seen on his Instagram, @abstractsunday. He incorporates everyday objects into mini animations and sketches. My favourite is the army-green T-rex outlined with watercolours running away with a real-life sock on its head. I found this segment of the episode especially relieving as a designer. During formal design sessions there are always multiple iterations, critiques and back and fourth to communicate a customer's needs. At points in time, it can detract from an artist's creativity and dampen the spirit of being able to run wild with your ideas. Niemann expresses through his Sundaysketches the experimentation, lack of control and idling nature of creativity which makes me excited about design and art.

When proposed with a statement about Niemann "It almost seems like the creator of your pieces and the editor of your pieces are two different people". Niemann provides a raw take on how he perceives himself as a creator and the battle between having control of his own designs versus allowing himself to be more free spirited. I was able to empathize with this internal tug-of-war of being "ruthless in editing [my] designs", but also being "a careless artist". As a self-proclaimed worry-wart I love the idea of risk taking only when they are calculated risks. As I have gotten older, it seems like there are more self-enacted deadlines and inadvertently less time for me to tinker and play. It is reassuring to know Niemann faces these struggles.

Watching this episode has reminded me not to create time for idling, but also allow myself to action on a sudden thought. I hope to be able to exude Niemann's humbleness towards taking conscientious steps towards trying things I am uncomfortable with as a designer and to not be too critical of myself while in the process of learning.