Alchemy

I would like to talk about artist block (similar to writers block). I know for most that we tend to draw or create when the inspiration hits you. For me I feel my inspiration comes in cycles (mainly depending on my free time). Sometimes I feel that I want to draw or create something but just don't have that little spark. Its the little jump start that get us going. And usually it doesn't take much. I think today we will focus a little on that tech side of creativity. I'm not sure how I came across this site. But this little program has done a good job of jump starting me when I get in a creative rut. If you go to a site called

http://al.chemy.org/

You'll see the site has a download section.

If you download this program you'll see that it doesn't have a undo option like most programs (may take some playing with to get the hang of using it). This program meant to force you into using what is created in it and apply your own creative twist to it. This program is more of a chaotic way of creating. Kinds forces you to see shapes similar to how we see shapes in the sky. Its just we use this as a quick way of randomly creating shapes. I like using this method because I never know what the result will be.

So now we need to load our favorite paint program on our computers and load what we have created in Alchemy. My preference is Adobe Photoshop. There is so much you can do with Adobe Photoshop and that seems to be what I enjoy using the most. Oh and don't forget to put on your favorite music to also give more push to creativity. If you say "But Alex...I have no good music!" You can go to Spotify and find some good music there if you don't have a music library for music. As far as I know Spotify has a free version with commercials.

This is an example of a little piece of a big image me and my friend Oscar Diaz started on. We just kinda started a little creative tennis I guess you could call it. I paint and send it back and he does his painting and sends it right back. And the final is still yet to come since this image is a pretty big piece (this is only a little corner of the piece).

As you can see above that the image we started with is just a lot of shapes. And after some painting and a little pushing around the forms we come to this result. Its just a fun way to relax and see shapes that your mind sees. I use the smudge brush in photoshop and some custom brushes to get a little more painterly effect.

I hope this helps you when your feeling like you need a creative push. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to comment back.

Alex