The Deeper Idea
Finding the DEEPER IDEA can mean many different things. For artists, a deep idea may mean it’s a simple solution for a design problem or it may mean a grand concept for a comprehensive campaign… so, how do you get these DEEP ideas?
As David Lynch suggests they can be found in shallow waters, but deeper ideas require deeper waters. What does “deeper waters” mean? I’m certainly not going to try to define that here, I only want to suggest that a (a step-by-step) process may help land those the BIG ideas.
In this video, I list “Define Theme or Message” as the first step. This first step can be a daunting task. You may say, I just want to draw, paint or animate my artwork and find my style. However, in finding your style I believe this step is the most crucial. How you create images may be formed by the medium, colors and drawing techniques you use, but the overall subject matter always communicates an idea, your idea and what you want to say.
Are you saying, I’m a good human-figure draftsman or I enjoy drawing unicorns and rainbows or I’m a world builder, etc.? If you draw human figures are you just capturing the anatomy of the figure or making statement on the human condition?
If you draw unicorns and rainbows does your artwork make for cute designs or does it open up a magical world for a viewer to explore?
Lastly, if you’re a world builder are you drawing the same image over and over or have you developed a concept and story for viewers to emerge themselves in?
My point here is that no matter what your interest is, you can always ask yourself is there a deeper idea I can explore or land. Can your creativity go into deeper waters? If you feel that you can but you get stuck, a nudge (process) may help you find those deeper waters.
In my video, I suggest that if you’re at the beginning of your creative journey, you may want to start with what you feel passionate about. What subject matter are you interested in and what industry do you want to be? Do you want to be a fine artist, comic book creator, T-Shirt designer or animator? You may want to copy the techniques being utilized by established creatives in those particular industries, but I can guarantee that what people will respond to is your unique vision and/or message.
“If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract.”
David Lynch practiced Transcendental meditation which he remarked aided him in his creativity. He viewed creativity as a process of accessing ideas with a dedicated “setup” for bringing those ideas to fruition. I can only suggest that David Lynch recognized “deeper ideas” because he recognized that the theme or message within the deep idea felt right.
While David likened his process to fishing and being intuitive and mysterious, he still allowed a process to guide him through his creativity. Granted his theme or message may have been obscure to understand, he still understood that they were delivering his vision and unique voice.
My point is whether you follow my suggested process here or not, it may be more important that you develop a personal process that keeps you reaching for your deeper ideas.
