Art does not just start and end with the final product. The key to a great piece of art is a good creative process.

This process starts with an idea; ideas are the hardest thing to get past because there can often be a buzz of ideas in one’s head that is hard to filter through. Once you do have an idea that sounds possible, you should plan out how to execute on that idea in the most efficient way possible. The plan should also have a time limit to it because too much creativity combined with all the time needed for them can lead to the finished product having no direction.

Sometimes, you can use something that looks like a disadvantage and turn it into an advantage. For instance, a writer only has words to convey what they want you to see. To a lot of people, this sounds like a major disadvantage because you have less control how your art is seen. This is can actually be a huge benefit because it can allow the reader of the book to imagine things the author never even considered.

Planning should be the longest phase of this process because if you do not have a good plan, then the final product will always look more rushed than a project with a better plan. After the planning phase, you can start to actually work on the piece of art. The plan should be followed, but you always can add or change things as long as it fits within the time frame you have set for yourself. The amount of time you set for yourself should be concrete. The way I set a time frame is setting one that I would like to get my project done by, and then I set a time where I have to finish my product. There are scenarios where you might not know how to do something to create your art. This should be found out in the planning process, and you have three options on how to tackle it. The first option is to contact a friend or someone else who knows how to do the thing you want to do. The second option is to learn how to solve the problem yourself. The last way to solve the problem is to change your plan altogether. The last option should only be used after you have tried the first two options.

Art is a tricky thing to get right, but a good creative process is the thing that separates art from ideas.