Rick Rubin | A Guide to 'The Creative Act' (book report, and key takeaways)

reason tells us what's normal normal is not anything to Aspire to we want to go past normal I'm not saying we can all be the best in the world but it's not about that we can all be better than we are now and that's the work are we willing to commit ourselves to do everything we can to be better than we are now hi and welcome to part two of the study of Rick rubin's new book the creative act now before we get going here I really want to say a quick thanks to everyone who watched and enjoyed the First videos reading your stories appreciation and support in the comments giving me a huge amount of pleasure and as 100 led to me taking on this further exploration of the book now in this second video we'll be taking a look at one of the central motifs of Rick's Tex where across a network of eight or so chapters he offers us a detailed look at how he builds a creative project from start to finish when reading the creative act this description really jumped out at me for use because it's full of practical takeaways for creatives but I hope will resonate with this community now quick notes say that even though I've tried to cover a large amount in this video there's still a load more in the book left to discover so if you have the resource and are interested I definitely recommend picking up a copy for your own creative space additionally I've also created a document with some further takeaways and links but in the process of making this video so I'm writing a sister article with additional notes which I'll be posting out this week on the inside creative minds newsletter right with all that said I really hope you get some value from the piece today this is creative minds and thanks for watching in collecting the material for the book and thinking about it I would look back at why did I want to do that and is there a a principle at play that could be of use outside of this case in this first section we're going to look at Reuben's depiction of inspiration and how we as artists can set ourselves up to access our best ideas with some basic practical methods jumping into the text now and we can see how Rick takes the creative Muse very seriously approaching his search for ideas and inspiration as a relationship with this unseen Force Talent Rick writes is the ability to let ideas manifest themselves through you as creators we're vehicles to allow creation to happen rarely maybe never does something come from inside of us it may get reformed within us but it doesn't start within us we are the sum total of our life's experiences what we've learned what we've seen uh the emotions that we felt the dreams that we've had and that's the material from which everything we make comes the planet is a productive Planet if you look outside you see green nature is constantly growing and man as part of nature is participating in this growth Rick describes our own ideas and point of view as emerging from deep inside of us and the momentum or motivation to create as being an urgerkin to the cycles of the natural world now for some these views may be verging too far into the spiritual realm but whether we are comfortable there or not most of us as children or adults have had that experience of drawing or playing an instrument with a lion or Melody is somehow leading our hand forwards and we as subjects are more akin to explorers than controllers of the action to look at this idea further I want to pull up an interview with writer and director David Lynch an artist who has steeped himself in the discussion of inspiration and his dialogue with the creative spirit [Music] do anything without an idea so they're beautiful gifts and I always say you Desiring an idea is like a bait on a hook you can pull them in and if you catch an idea that you love that's a beautiful beautiful day and you write that idea down so you won't forget it and that idea that you caught might just be a fragment of the whole whatever it is you're working on but now you have even more bait thinking about that small fragment that little fish will bring in more I like to think of it as in the other room the puzzle is all together but they keep flipping in just one piece at a time now personally I find this description of how we find our creative ideas can actually be very freeing for the artistic process as creators we're not forced so much to will ideas or inspiration as to create the correct conditions for that process to occur but with that responsibility in mind how best then can we intentionally create those moments well to better develop an answer to that question let's start with a quote from Pulitzer a Nobel prize-winning author Tony Morrison if writing is thinking and Discovery in selection and Order and meaning Morrison writes is also awe and reverence and mystery and Magic here she clearly defines the two sides of the creative process that we've been discussing the unknowable side which the artist convenes with and the formal processes that we might lead ourselves foreign between the freedom that we must allow for ideas and the Practical structures that we must apply to access them is something I've encountered across many books and interviews about the creative process on one hand that art relies on us being open and free thinking whilst on the other it requires a kind of strict form maintaining habits and routines that enable us to access inspiration and execute on our ideas good habits create good artwork rights consider establishing a consistent framework around your creative process it is often the case that the more set your personal regimen the more freedom you have within that structure to express yourself I would go down to my lovely little gazebo the bottom of the garden sit down and I'm absolutely allowed not to do anything I'm allowed to sit at my desk I'm allowed to stare out at the world I'm allowed to do anything I like as long as it isn't anything not allowed to do a crossword not allowed to read a book I'd like to phone a friend all I'm allowed to do is absolutely nothing all right [Music] and what I love about that is I'm giving myself permission to write or not write but writing is actually more interesting than doing nothing after a while you know you sort of sit there and you've been staring out the window now for five minutes and it kind of loses its charge you're going well actually might as well write something here we see Gaiman discussing his own experience with accessing inspiration through a close relationship between routine environment and engaging in the creative act this is a common feature I've found across many creators I've looked at on this channel just as the artist is free and radical in their work so they find themselves in strict relationships with the environment and routine that allow them to most successfully create to go in the basement and and do something that you learn to do and create something that's positive and something like that that that's my only out my only Outlet you know to go in the basement and do me even if nobody even heard the stuff I did you know I think I was still going to basement and messing around or DJ or just listen to music because I was through my whole life been the only thing to take me away from all of the crazy stuff that's going on trying to retain some of the warmth from energy from that clip let's move on to the next stage of Rick's discussion how to cultivate these seeds into someone larger so in the seed phase there's no deadlines it's just a wide open heart and then the next phase you start experimenting to see what the seeds want to do you're involved but you're more of a um you're not really dictating the action you're you're setting the stage for something to happen but it's not about you yet so it'd be like the equivalent of you'd plant the seed you would water it you would make sure it was in the Sun and you'd wait um so you're involved but you can't make it grow as with phase one we can see that Rick's depiction of cultivating our ideas is underpinned by relinquishing of our own power as creators we're here to set the scene and nourish the ideas not to try and control or manipulate them as the seeds arrive Rick rights forming conclusions about their value or fate can get in the way of their natural potential in this phase the artist's work is to collect seeds plant them water them with attention and see if they take root now I've covered a fairly developed discussion of these themes in the Frank Ocean video which I'll link at the end but Rick reiterates this concept and provides us with some practical tips for engaging with this process it starts with this again coming in blank like not having any preconceived ideas being open and really listening trying our best to do that without any of the beliefs that we might have to impact what that is I want to be as neutral as possible my goal is is not to form an opinion it's to understand so if anything just ask questions so just as Rick creates that open and unjudgmental dialogue as a producer so we can look to achieve this in our internal discussions with our ideas again we are looking to be led here by whatever is coming up and allowing that seed of inspiration to change your plans taking us into surprising or unknown territory if it wants to the work reveals itself as you go Rick writes sometimes the purpose of a seed is to propel us in a completely new Direction along the way it may morph into something hardly resembling its original form and become our finest work yet now to develop this method of approach further I want to bring in two short clips from other artists discussing the mindset of creation at this stage and to kick us off let's take a look at another one who left us way too early Jazz sing a songwriter Amy Winehouse I mean when I sit down to write a song I don't think this will be good I don't think this sounds a bit like that I should work that in and make that sound like that and I don't think I should have that particular line on it like I just sit down and just let it come out you know what I mean and that's what you have to do you have to let a song grow you can't push a song out and you can't force it to be anything when it's out you just gotta let it grow [Music] here we recognize that open and unjudgmental attitude that can lead to transformative work now to set the scene for this approach we can try to cultivate a kind of naive and curious spirit in our practice reflected in the following words from soundtrack extraordinaire Hans Zimmer because I had a sort of a vision and a sound in my head my challenge for us not being a grown-up not trying to be the man who's done a lot of movies but to regress in a way and become The Reckless 13 year old teenager and right as a 13 year old teenager now I want to make another quick note just to shout out Rick here and say that although we're getting through a great deal of content here there really is loads more to be discovered in the book as a side note to that if you are enjoying this video please consider dropping a like down below to support the growth of this Channel and make sure you subscribe for loads more videos like this in the future right enough meanderings there let's get back to what we came in for and jump into the book now to introduce Rick's take on Section 3 the crafting phase once the seed's code has been cracked Rick writes and its true form deciphered the process shifts we are no longer in the unbounded mode of Discovery a clear sense of direction has arisen now comes the labor of building the lines have been drawn now we're filling in the colors when it sprouts and it grows and or if it turns into a plant then you can look at the plans like okay how does this plant what's the potential of this plant and then and then that the third phase the crafting phase where it's like okay I have this plant maybe I'm going to trim it or maybe I'm going to combine it with these other plants to make some something else with it now it's like material that you have at this stage your projects have gathered a more solid form and as always the crafting phase is where we apply our skills of making and begin to actually realize the ideas into being for many of us this stage will represent the longest period of our project what we want to build is become invisible to us now but still we have to allow it to morph and develop inside of our practice you can get the idea for a novel in quite a short period of time but then you have to sit down and work at it and while you're working it out you often get more and different and new ideas and that can be a long process it can take you know a year or two years to work out an idea that you might have had in five minutes as that would describes in the crafting phase we're spending a lot of time with the work at hand and it is only natural that possible changes and developments will be suggested to us as ideas are tested and the process moves forwards testing of every idea is really important and that's how you get to see oh that's not at all what I thought it was going to be happens to me all the time I know because someone will suggest why don't we do it like this and I'll think that sounds bad and then I'll think okay let's try it and then we hear it and then you know eight times out of ten it's nothing like I imagined and great both in this clip and in the text Rick reminds us of the importance of building conceptual ideas into real consumable things before deciding whether to follow that pathway further or not again we appointed to the importance of remaining open to Discovery through this process keeping the project flexible enough to shift around and incorporate new ideas [Music] and you're okay with the blue going on the one even if now to finish this exploration of the crafting process I want to jump back into the words of Han Zimmer watching as he pulls together the seed ideas of a soundtrack and engages in the massive crafting exercise required for a fully orchestrated Hollywood movie School so I had this framework of exotic synthesized or built instruments I remember essential Tina growl my jealous I want your channel to sound like a Tibetan war horn PVC is your friend PVC piping I actually made a sub-contra bass duduk by putting this into a very long tube of PVC I do things that not many people in the world can do but then I told him yes yeah I can do this he said can you look air so yeah I can do but can you make vowels while you're doing the air in a funeral like no don't do this to me and it's okay let's jump into the final stage now where Rick leads us through a few ideas on how to finish the work and close out the project as the work improves through the craft phase Rick writes you'll come to the point where all the options available to you have been explored sufficiently the seed has achieved its full expression and you've pruned it to your satisfaction nothing is left to add or take away the works Essence Rings clear now there's a heap of information that Rick looks at in the book around finishing but for now I want to pull out two practical tips I found in this section starting with his take on mapping out timelines and committing to a project deadline I've come to realize that by the time you're going into the completion phase you can have a deadline and it won't hurt the project in fact it might help the project and I didn't know that before so I've worked on projects that have gone longer than they necessarily needed to and maybe not in the best interest of the project because I didn't know that I didn't understand that that the timing of that because I because I am so aware of the necessity in the experimental phase to not have a deadline that I assumed that that held through the whole project so Rick has come around to the use of deadlines in this final stage and as an artist once the end is in sight and all the creative aspects of the work have been realized we could probably all do with a Finish Line and a realistic countdown clock to get us across it but as well as the helpful addition of time constraints at this finishing stage Rick points out another practical lesson for artists and a reason why so many of them struggle to finish and deliver when you believe the work before you is the single piece that will forever Define you it's difficult to Let It Go the urge for Perfection is overwhelming it's too much we are frozen and sometimes end up convincing ourselves that discarding the entire work is the only way to move forward now I wonder if that sentiment feels familiar with you like it does with me and this idea Rick is expressing sits within the headline topic of toxic perfectionism and to protect herself from this Force Rick suggests that in the final stage of a project we grow a healthy level of disregard for the work or what we should expect to feel as we release it into the world the real creative work is now behind us and we should begin to detach ourselves and leave the power of those ideas in the past everything is like a um it's almost like a diary entry everything we make is a is a reflection of a moment in time a window in time could be a day it could be a year it could be a you know it could be whatever window you decide that it is and you know if you're not interested in working it on it anymore it's done now you may decide it's not good enough to share with people and that's fine but if it's good enough share with people is no regret looking back in service of growing that healthy perspective around control and audience reaction Rick suggests the closing period of a project as a great moment to start looking Beyond it and building something new and shiny to get excited about the Final Phase of fertile time to plant a new crop of seeds for it right the excitement of what's coming can generate the vital energy needed to bring the current work to its clothes we can't wait to finish because there's another idea cooling that lights us up again this approach helps the artists build the momentum they need to remove any painful goodbyes and carry on with what really matters the process of continuing to make things and retaining a joy and doing the things they love the things that end up breaking through don't break through in the way we thought or turn out to be a third iteration of something that we thought was an entirely different thing or we don't know you know it's and I I think it's if we Embrace that not knowing we'll have a healthier experience going through life okay as for a description of Rick's phases I hope I've done a decent job and if you've read the book yourself let me know if I missed anything that jumped out you from the text now we've got to the end of Rick's description I wanted to put forth a couple of overarching thoughts that I had on his ideas it seems that overall what Rick offers us with these phases is a slow and not necessarily linear movement from the completely open process of ideas catching to the closed off one of deadlines and final completion the wide map of our process opens up to receive inspiration at his top and slowly close it stage by stage distilling the ideas and allowing us to communicate their truest Essence to our audience at many moments in the process we are there to Simply facilitate and turn up for the work and at the end of the day whatever we intended for the piece to come across as its real effect will only be built and felt through its reconstruction within the audience's mind I think when the person wrote them they may have had one interpretation um but it's not contingent on us getting that interpretation to like it or resonate with it or feel it in some ways the best uh the best art is open enough where the artist gets to have their experience when they make it and then the audience gets to have their experience when they listen and they don't have to be the same okay before you go I wanted to say a huge thanks to the community artists who have helped soundtrack this piece and remind you that you can find links to all their work in the description below please do go and check out Rick's book if you fancy reading everything it has to offer and again for further discussion check out the inside Creator Minds newsletter that I've linked in the comments it's completely free and I'll be dropping my additional notes post there sometime later on this week right with all that said love to the community in here for watching love to Rick for facilitating all this great discussion and peace and whatever you're working on this week

Channel: Creative Minds

Views: 229,670

Keywords: rick rubin, creative advice, rubin, the creative act, rubins book, rick rubin book, rick book, creative advice book

Id: MJzKun8a3eE

Length: 22min 5sec (1325 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 19 2023