What is creative freedom?
I've been taking a class about the value of art recently. I was tasked to answer a question: what is creative freedom? I think the principles apply to a lot of fields so I'd like to share my answers here with a broader audience too.
- • Know the boundary of an art form.In my opinion, to discuss creative freedom, one must address the definition of freedom first. My country's saint, Confucius once said "do whatever your heart desires, but do not break the rules". I think it's one of the best definitions of freedom, you can but can not do whatever you want. There is a boundary on everything. Once you know the boundary, you can work hard to push the boundary a little bit, which will be a break through of the art field, and I'd say the biggest creative movement.
- • Build your own voice. We learn from our ancestors, and gain knowledge from them. However, we must build our own voice to speak our own minds.
- • Master the skills of your own art field. Now you know your field, you have your own voice, you have to learn how to express them. Greatest artists are the ones who both have minds and skills.
- • Look for cross boundary inspiration. Staying in one field is dangerous sometimes, cause you only get old information. New information would inspire new ideas.
- • Act.You can't just have everything in your mind. You have to take action to put it out for the world to see, thus preserving your ideas or receiving critical feedbacks for further creative development.