Day 33: Abraham Lincoln

"The best way to predict your future is to create it."

These very true words were brought to the world by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States and boy does he know what he's talking about!

Don't worry, I'm not about to give you a history lesson on US politics. All I'm asking is that you look at his words. Even Abraham Lincoln knew that getting anywhere meant creating a path.

Perhaps he didn't mean create in the 'arty' kind of way, but it goes to show that making things has value, whether it be our futures or a sculptor of a bunny rabbit!

Why can't we create our futures in an arty way? If 'arty' (and by that I mean creative in any way, shape or form) is your thing, then make it your future.

I'm 23 now and 'artiness' is a part of who I am (hence this blog). If I wasn't being arty then I wouldn't be Emma!

So, what I'm saying to you today (with the help of my mate Abraham Lincoln) is to creative your future by being/making what you love. If artiness makes you happy, then do it! Go for it! Keep on doing what you're doing and see where it takes you. That's what I've been doing and it going pretty well for me!

I wonder what you will create in your future...?

Day 32: Vampires

It seems to be the new craze at the moment. Everyone is either on team Edward, Team Jacob or there is of course the Team 'I hate everything to do with Twilight.'

Whatever you think about the saga, it has certainly caught the world's attention.

So lets consider the concept of vampires. They have entered all form of creative story telling for centuries whether they be blood sucking demons or lovable rouges. I watched a film last night where the whole planet had turned into vampires and they were running out of blood resulting in starving, desperate killers. It was a pretty gross film (blood and gore and stuff), but I thought the concept was a bit different. It wasn't vampires in the minority hiding from humans but the other way around.

This got my creative (human) head thinking...have vampire stories been pushed to their limits or is there still more to explore?

I'm a huge believer in the second view. All you young minds out there have definitely got the potential to be fresh, new and original with your stories in all different forms of creativity.

So how about it? What could YOU do with the vampire genre (yes, I think it can have its own genre)? There is ALWAYS another story to tell...could you create it?

Day 31: Word up!

Sometimes you sit down to be creative and there is just nothing there. At least that's what happens to me from time to time.

So to remedy this 'block' here is a little exercise to help:

Open a book, any book. Point to a word and write it down. Do this 3 times (with the same book or different ones I guess) and hey presto, you have a 3 word starting point.

Here is one I prepared earlier! My words came from 'What I Was' by Meg Rosoff (which I've just started and it's going pretty well).

Here goes...

The words: 'examine' 'something' 'impossible' See if you can spot them!

“This is impossible.” I said, trying to unscrew the pipe under the sink. “It’s never going to stop dripping. Just look at it.”

“Who are you talking to, Lucy?” said Michael from behind me. I turned to meet the cupboard door in my face.

“Aww! Who put that there?”

“Err. Luce, it’s always been there. It’s the cupboard.”

“Shut up!” I said standing up, hands on my hips.

Michael pointed at my t-shirt. “You’ve got some brown stuff on you, by the way,”

“Yeah well done, genius. I’m trying to fix the tap. It’s hardly surprising you haven’t noticed. It’s been leaking for days, probably from your stupid party the other night. Dad’ll kill you when he gets back.”

“Chill, sis,” he said taking the spanner from me. “Leave it to me.” He crouched down on the floor, without banging his head I might add. Mr perfect, as always! “And it was a gathering, not a party.”

“Whatever,” I said, arms crossed. He’ll screw up in a minute. All I have to do is wait.

After taking a million years to examine it, he finally started banging about.

“Well?” I asked. He was full on lying on the floor now. Images of beached whales came floating to mind.

“Give me a minute.” he said.

The doorbell rang. “It’s probably Jessica.” I said, running to the door. I opened the door and she stared at my t-shirt as if a dead rabbit had been smeared over it.

“It’s only oil from the pipes,” I said. “Michael and his stupid college friends broke it at their ‘gathering’.”

Jessica giggled. “Was his friend Toby there?”

I rolled my eyes, “Don’t start that again. Come in.”

Together we walked into the kitchen just as the pipe started spraying something brown everywhere.

“Michael! What have you done?” I said.

“Nothing.” He quickly tightened the nut and it went back to the drip. Casually Michael got up. His t-shirt was now an interesting shade of brown. Jessica burst into fits of laughter.

“Good one, Mike,” I said as he passed me the spanner.

“You’re right, it’s impossible,’ he said and out he went.

So, there you have it, a creative piece inspired by just 3 words. Use my words if you like, or find your own. Whatever takes you fancy.

And don't think this idea is only for story writing. I wrote a story 'cause that's what I do to be creative. Try and use it in whatever you do, dance, drama, music, animation, art...

See what you can do. Go...

Day 30: Green

This is the word of the day, green.

I challenge you to come up with a creative piece inspired by the colour green.

What kind of associations come to mind when you think of green?

Some of mine include grass, my boyfriend (cause that's his favourite colour), Shrek, the environments. My boyfriend also has a t-shirt which is bright green and it says 'fight the bear' on it. I think if I were to do a creative piece it would have something to do with a ninja fighting bear who wears a green bandanna and eats only green things as part of his ninja diet!

Now, I am aware that some of your associations may differ from mine! That's the create thing about creativity, everyone has a different flavour!

What will you come up with. Take the challenge...

Day 29: Think, act, speak...

No I'm not trying to pitch a funky new version of the highway code or promote safety or anything weird like that. I am trying, of course, to inspire creativity!

Task: The next time you see someone (your mum, sibling, friend, the milkman...) ask them a question. Any old question today, ie, 'what did you have for breakfast this morning?'

The changes are it will go something like this: stop, do some kind of action (like looking up, frowning, scratching their head etc) and then they will answer you. Why? Because this is the order in which we communicate.

First, we think. This is usually followed by some kind of body action, to show we are thinking. Then we speak.

What has this got to do with anything??

Well, if you are a writer, actor, figure animator or anything else that involves the way people behave, then this IS important!

How many times have you read a book with a line like this:

' "I can't believe you," David shouted. He raised his arms up in his anger.'

It's SO annoying when you find how they have spoken AFTER they've said it and what they were doing.

'David raised his hands up in the air, shouting, "I can't believe you." '

See what i mean?

This rule can be used in drama too. If you are writing a play, make sure you get the way people act in the right order. That way your creative work will be more believable.

Try it out for yourself. Be a student of people watching!

Day 28: Videos!

Well, hello there all!

Today I want to think about videos. In this day and age it is soooooo easy to make your own video, whether it be a music video, animation, video blog etc, etc.

About a year ago me and my sister made an animation video using a camera (ie, taking photos of every shot) and little Winnie the Pooh figurines (it was all we could find in the cupboard, okay!) Now I have to confess, this video is not the piece I am most proud of creatively, but creative it is nonetheless:



It was a lot of fun making this video and that's really my point. Have fun! Don't worry about getting it perfect, or trying something really difficult, just start and see where you end up!

Check out these videos I found on You Tube. The first two are by a band called Sour and they are proper creative!





This next one is a family effort by the looks of it. It sure looks fun that's for sure!



This last one is by a guy called Charlie and I think it's so clever. It's like I always say, pull on the resources you've already got!



He's a committed video blogger this guy, so you should check out some of his other stuff too. I enjoyed it anyway, http://www.youtube.com/user/charlieissocoollike

That all for now folks. Be inspired, get creative!

Day 27: A picture says 1000 words!

The next time you open a magazine, be it fashion, cars, computers, the big issue...find two random pictures which don't seem to have anything to do with each other. How do they link? How could you make a story/a scene/a dance piece/a painting using these two pictures?

It can be any aspect of the pictures that you chose to use. It's really up to you. Use it as a starting point...

To give you an example (which I so often like to do) take these two pictures:

I have taken them from this month's 'Marie Claire' Magazine. Is the girl - lets call her Sadie - looking at the sign? Is this where she is destined to go? Is this (the sign) what she wants her life to be? Is she an undercover detective, investigating the scene of a murder? Is she the murderer? Is she the next victim...or are they two separate things in the story all together?

Now, I am a writer, so naturally edge towards creating a story from these two images, but do whatever you like with them. Create lyrics, use the colours to inform your painting. Maybe it inspires your own fashion ideas?

Whatever you do with it, be creative. Find your own pictures and let them inspire you own creativity.

Go...