The Multimedia artist’s survival guide.
1. Take a brake every 45 min or, so, even if you don’t feel like this. You can even set an alarm.
Your brain can’t keep the “fresh” perception of what you are doing - Your ears and eyes get tired. It’s a pure physiology . Every time you will restart, - you gonna see and hear more clear.
Take a phone, write e- mail, read the news, listen or see some of your colleague's works,
Even better , -move your body . All the studies confirm an importance of physical exercise for the brain activity! Come back to the project immediately after.
We all have difficulty to start something, but interruption of the work, from time to time, - is an art on its own.
What if your inspiration “kicks on” half past five and you just have to stop?
2. Have a reference – some work, done by your colleagues that you find inspiring. Constantly compare. Have “The point of reference”. Do better if you can.
3. Don’t get “carried” by your own “composition”, stop “enjoying” it. You can have the satisfaction and all the pleasure, when the work is done.( Not immediately, at first you will see only “mistakes” and the details, you still would want to change.) Give it a time .Within the month, you goanna be sort of proud of it.
4. Remember, many people actually “hate” their jobs and force themselves to pass trough the routine of it. You are the “lucky” one! At list you are doing something “creative”. Think about all an office workers, a mechanics on a conveyer, a salesman, a cleaners and so on.. Multimedia artist typically likes what he or she is doing. Sometimes it is wise to forget about the inspiration and creativity and concentrate on the reward.
5. Think about a client .They typically want something familiar, something they already have seen. Ask them for a reference; ask them what they like .See what your colleagues are doing. Compare, compare, and compare….Remember – you are a “creative artist”, but you are paid just like an another service man – a plumber, an auto mechanic or a carpenter.
6. Give the client a few versions, if they are not “specific”. Give them power to choose.
(About three versions or so. ).Majority or them are not clear about what they actually want, but they definitely want something “cool”.
7... Don’t get carried away by the detail, you can come back to this later, even at the last moment. ” The better is the enemy of the Good!”. "Something" is better them "nothing"..
8. The speed is essential in multimedia. You must have all tools ready, some pre –prepared solutions . Even use templates, or techniques and a fragments of your previous projects .Recycle! Decisions are taken very quickly. You may find yourself being forced to switch to something completely different “on a fly”. Have pre – made options.
9. Tools.
Do not switch for new tools or techniques during the project. Work with the stuff, you familiar with.
Learn the new tools, when the project is over.
If you need to use a new tool, – ask your “colleague – friend” to show it to you, and teach you how to use it. This is more effective, them any manual or a tutorial. Fix on paper every step!
Remember, you are not paid for this either.
Many artists work old-fishily for years, bit they are “reliable” and always “on time”.
Very important!. Planning! The chaos is the first enemy of every creative person. If you do not have a a producer, then you have to do it for yourself.
One hour of planning saves hours of work. Write down everything (where your files are, all remarks from the client, make a “spreadsheet” if you want.) Remember again – you are not paid for this, but this is your “survival tool”.
No book, play, or a motion picture, or a piece of software would be ever finished, without a “death line”.
10.The ”Death line” isn’t your enemy - It is your friend !
We can change something, improve and “make it better” forever.
Learn from the programmers –they deliver the product, and they fix the “bugs” with the “patches” afterwards.
11 Art to get paid for your job is a separate story – we will come back to this later….
Dr.Keyreal
2 comments:
I find the post very useful.
Bart.
Being a Multimedia arts student I think I'll need those tips quite soon :)
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