Create: Overcoming Fear to Unleash Your Creativity (Photography Art Book, Creative Thinking, Creative Expression, and Readers of Steal Like an Artist)

Copyright © 2019 Marc Silber

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Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life

Library of Congress Cataloging

ISBN: (print) 978-1-63353-982-2 (ebook) 978-1-63353-983-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019935684

BISAC category code: SEL009000 SELF-HELP / Creativity

Printed in the United States of America

To Bernice Garrett Silber, my mother, who always encouraged me to create and find art in life, and who so wisely and courageously went against the grain and found a learning environment to foster this throughout my whole life. I love you and think of you always…

Praise for Create and Silber’s earlier works

I am really excited about Marc’s new book Create, as he has accomplished something pretty amazing by bringing to light the exact steps of the creative process. This is something far too little is written on, and something that has vastly more power than you’d imagine. He’s really made it so easy and so clear for anyone who wants to open artistic joy in any area of their life. As a photographer, musician, designer, educator, and entrepreneur Marc’s book really spoke to me. I can’t wait to see what people do with the concepts and ideas he shares in its page. He makes it easy to grasp just the right tool to use with his own examples and riveting stories from some extremely talented people. Take it from someone who has been an educator in the arts for decades: if you want a more artistic and fun life, you’re holding the book that will do it (plus, you’ll love Marc’s delightful and engaging writing style). Highly recommended.

—Scott Kelby, bestselling author and educator  

What a marvelously constructed book for anyone who ever thought of creating anything…and it’s not just for the sophisticated artist. Anybody can learn these tools…and they are surprisingly simple, too. It’s a very alive read—NOT like a dry walk through the desert looking for some water. There’s a drink around every corner here. Refreshingly fresh, it’s an action-packed ‘how to.’ And does it ever deliver!

—Michael Manoogian, legendary star of logo design

Put more life into your art. Put more art into your life. Marc Silber’s newest book gives practical tools to do both. Make more meaningful, vibrant and impactful art in your chosen art form, or live a more creative, beautiful and purposeful life. Filled with interviews with celebrities, successful artists, entrepreneurs, and people who make their lives into an art, Create will give you the insight and inspiration you’ve been waiting for to kick the creativity in your life into high gear.

—Cathy Weaver, author and educator

After reading Create I was able to articulate what I truly wanted to do with my photography, first to myself, then to others. Marc’s insightful narrative, punctuated by his thoughtful interviews with exceptional leaders in their fields, created a safe vantage point from which to envision my best creative life.

—E. Cross, photographer and engineer

I recently had the privilege of reviewing this book, and all I can say is: Wow! Before I read any non-fiction book, the first thing I do is read the table of contents, and when I saw the table in this book, I immediately thought to myself: ‘this isn’t a photography how-to.’ After a few pages I rediscovered and old friend; my muse. She had fled for quite some time, and I was going through the motions of writing, and when I took photos, well, they were more like snapshots. Thanks to Marc Silber and this well written book, I am learning more about creativity than I thought I was capable of learning—and now am writing better than ever and taking real photographs. Creativity; it’s the foundation of art. To live without creativity, is merely existence…

—James W. Robinson, writer, photographer, creative.

Once again, with this book, The Secrets to Creating Amazing Photos, Marc Silber proves to be a wonderful and worthwhile compendium of photographic knowledge, tips, tricks, survival skills, and historical perspective. This book is a go-to collection of lucid strategies for any photographer who is striving and seeking to up their game in the fast pace endeavor known as digital photography.

—Joe McNally, internationally acclaimed, award-winning photographer

Table of Contents

This book provides tools to help increase your creativity. You are an artist whether you are working in a creative field, or in the art of living itself.

Foreword

Preface

How to Use This Book

Part One | The Cycle of Creativity

Chapter One The Cycle of Creativity and Its Parts

Chapter Two Know Your Purpose for Creating

Chapter Three Visualize What You Want to Create

Chapter Four The Joy of Knowing and Using Your Tools

Chapter Five Working Your Craft: Blending

Visualization with Your Tools

Chapter Six Editing and Refining Your Work

Chapter Seven Sharing Your Work

Part Two | Overcoming Barriers to a Creative Life

Chapter Eight Make Time to Create

Chapter Nine Take Long Walks and Adventures

Chapter Ten Find and Put Art into Your Life

Chapter Eleven Lighten Up! The Role of Humor for a Creative

Chapter Twelve Additional Tools to Help You Live a Creative Life

Stay in Touch

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Foreword

Creativity is a word many people associate exclusively with filmmakers, musicians, or artists. Many people even fear the word. They say, Oh, I’m not creative, and leave it at that. That is a big mistake. By putting up that barrier, they’re stifling themselves and staying within their comfort zones.

While it’s true that creativity flows easier within some people more than others, everyone has a bit of creativity they use every day. I can’t paint or draw like Picasso or Goya, but in my line of business, I have to be creative to find solutions to everyday problems. I have to be creative to work with people with different habits than mine. I need to move the needle forward with people who move as fast as I do and with those who don’t. And because not everyone responds the same way, I have to be creative in how I address them. Creativity isn’t limited to a few people or professions. Everyone has it, but they don’t always realize they’re using it.

As a bestselling author, my creativity flows in the stories I tell. The stories of true, tested leaders that get up every day with the purpose of making life better for someone else—whether it’s a total stranger, family, friends, or employees. For example, I’m always telling the stories of the hero CEOs I’ve encountered along the way. People who aren’t famous or celebrities, but who use their creative gifts to move the needle forward, people who find creative solutions to problems, and people who genuinely strive to create an environment that encourages creativity.

Marc’s book provides practical steps that readers can apply to their daily lives immediately. His easy-to-read, hands-on advice encourages stepping out of one’s comfort zone in order to make changes that will lead to a creative outpour, regardless of industry. The good news here is, you don’t have to be a rock star like Mick Jagger, sing like Lady Gaga, or have a number of Oscars under your belt to be creative. Unburden yourself from the stigma that creativity isn’t for everyone and read this book. You’ll realize that you’ve always been creative and can unleash that power at any given point moving forward.

JEFFREY HAYZLETT

Primetime TV and podcast host, speaker, author, and part-time cowboy

Preface

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.

—L.P. Jacks, Educator

This book will show you ways to transform your life to have a more creative existence—every day. You may already be an artist in some field that you want to broaden your skills in or you may want to add more fun and creativity into your life as whole. In either case, following this book’s steps will help you advance toward your goal.

Many people look upon creativity longingly, as something that a few artists and lucky creatives get to indulge in. But when it comes to having a creative life, they may feel like a land-locked surfer yearning for those beautiful waves with exhilarating rides.

A common misconception is that only artists and creatives can pursue a creative life. Coupled with this is the notion that just a small portion of one’s life could be seen as a creative outlet. For example, playing guitar or singing a few hours a week—but what happens to the other 165 hours in a week?

The truth is that many very successful people view their life as art and incorporate creativity into every aspect of it whether at work or play. Such examples are: an entrepreneur creating a new product or parents creating fun (offline) activities for their kids rather than letting them sink into small-screen obsession. Truthfully, for very creative and happy people, life is an art form; conversely living itself can be an art.

We will be exploring the many ways to add art into your life by reading stories and advice from those who have excelled at doing so. For millennia, humans have passed along wisdom by telling stories. The magic of storytelling is that one doesn’t need to hear the precise story that suits their exact needs. By engaging their imagination, the listener or reader fills in his or her own specifics into the story line and thus achieves greater understanding.

In this book, Create, I take the same approach that I have with my previous books: I explore common points of creativity from my own experiences, from people I have researched, and those of the seriously talented people I have interviewed. I’ll break these down into their components and make each one clear and easy to follow.

If you want to go deeper, I’ll give you practical exercises to do in your life. This is where the changes can really occur, so be ready to roll up your sleeves and work/play at transforming your life with them.

The result is a set of tools for you to live a happier and more creative life, which is my goal for you.

Marc Silber

Carmel, California

How to Use This Book

Action is the foundational key to all success.

—Pablo Picasso

This book is geared toward action and not just thinking. I imagine you’re reading it because you want to transform your life and take action, which is the key to success, as Picasso said.

Tools for Creativity

A tool is defined as something used as a means of achieving something. (Encarta Dictionary.) In terms of creativity this could be a physical thing, like a paintbrush or a spatula, but it could also encompass non-physical things such as one’s ability to communicate as a means to express oneself. We’ll be covering both senses when I talk about tools.

"Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’

Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools

you may have at your command, and better tools will

be found as you go along."

—George Herbert, poet

I’ll be presenting tools to you that I have discovered which will lead to new ways of thinking and DOING. You will be familiar with some of them, of course, but please don’t make the mistake that a few do and brush them off because I already know that which is just another way of saying I have nothing more to learn—the biggest trap one can step into. Keep your mind and eyes wide open to learn, especially what may have been staring at you right in the face!

The following are key points that will help you get the most from this book (or course as I sometimes refer to it) and help spark a transformation to a more creative life:

Leave Room in Your Cup

I have told this story at the start of my workshops:

Nan-in, a Japanese master, received a university professor who came to inquire about his teachings.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. It is overfull. No more will go in!

Like this cup, Nan-in said, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I teach you unless you first empty your cup?

I encourage you to come to this book with an empty cup. If a new idea won’t quite flow in, check to see if you need to make a bit more room in your cup.

Take Pleasure in the Joy of Understanding

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.

—Leonardo da Vinci

My parents instilled a deep respect for understanding words and their derivations by encouraging me to use dictionaries. My mom’s mantra was to always look up any word you didn’t understand as soon as you encountered it; to never try to slip past one, or you wouldn’t experience the joy of understanding.

In addition to using a good dictionary (I recommend the Oxford Concise which also comes in a very handy smartphone app.) You can also Google define _____—but watch out, some of these start simple but soon get more complex. So grab what you need to understand the word and don’t dive in the deep end.

Be Fully Involved

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember.

Involve me and I learn."

—Benjamin Franklin

Another point I cannot stress enough: get fully involved with what I’m discussing with you as soon as you encounter it. Look at how it applies to you and your life and find real scenarios. For example, when I’m discussing tools for creativity, take a moment to locate yours, so you have solid examples. They might be kitchen knives, or a musical instrument, or wood working tools—whatever they are, connect what I’m discussing with them. This is vital to bring about positive changes.

Part of being involved is setting a schedule to study and work with this book, ideally daily, but at least weekly. Whatever you set, stick to it. Try to get in at least three hours a week which could be a little as twenty-five minutes a day. Not a bad investment to bring on a new creative life.

Track Your Stray Thoughts

"Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters

up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable

than gray matter, and lead pencil markings endure

longer than memory."

—Jack London

I love notebooks (they have long been a staple for artists) and I want you to get one and write in it daily. It helps to use it for visual thinking to sketch or write down your discoveries, key words you want to remember, diagrams and drawings of how something works, and flashes of inspiration and stray thoughts. I write my realizations in a notebook daily so that I can keep track of what I’m learning and accomplishing and to face up to areas I need to master.

Your first assignment is this: get a notebook and use it daily while you go through this book. Write in it, draw, explore your ideas, make notes, ask questions, diagram and learn.

What to Expect as You Learn

The shape of the book is this: I’ll discuss the tools that I want you to be familiar with and give you examples of their use. Interspersed between the chapters are my interviews with a wide variety of creative people telling their stories about how they’ve transformed their lives. As you’ll see, we have a very eclectic mix of artists, Grammy award-winners, a serial entrepreneur who grew up homeless on the streets, the voice of Bart Simpson, and many others who help us round out the book.

At the end of each chapter I’ll ask you summarizing questions about what we covered so that you have an opportunity to look at how you can apply these points to your life. I’d like to you feel as though I’m right there helping you become involved and owning what we’ve covered. Use these moments as a chance to take the given concept and do something with it: reflect, imagine applications, use it to analyze a given personal or unique situation.

If you cannot easily do so then review that section of the book until you can apply it. But don’t treat these as tests. Rather, use them as an opportunity to really dig in, get involved, and arrive at the joy of understanding.

Next, I’ll give you application steps to put these tools into use. These are designed to