Art doesn’t exist in a vacuum.   You can’t start at step 1, then go to step 5, and skip the rest.
I also don’t recommend focusing too much on one stage and not the others. Everything exists in balance.    

1. Start with an idea.
2. Visualize the form your idea will take.
3. Pick the idiom - the expression of your idea realized.
4. Create structure - create a process for creation.
5. Apply craft - build it.
6. Surface - create a great first impression. If you apply these steps, you’ll create a work that inspires a response from a grateful audience.  Art requires a response from those you seek to serve. Those you seek to serve want to come alive. Serve the others by creating better art. Follow the process.   Come alive

That moment when you finish the last song, and the audience erupts - art happened. Art happened because you connected with the mind of another, shared a message worth sharing, and did so through a medium that you’ve mastered - and - the other received and appreciated your message. Art requires a response. The artist’s desire to communicate an idea and create better art is only as strong as their audience’s desire to give meaning and definition to the piece. You need your audience, readers, listeners, clients, customers to create art. It’s easy to take the posture that we’re artists and those that will appreciate our work will, and to hell with everybody else. It’s also easy to say we’re not creating this piece for someone, it’s for us and it’s a reflection of what’s in our minds. You would be within your rights to have those thoughts. However, if you want to reach the others and serve them, you’ll need their response. When an audience responds, it means they felt something so powerful that they needed to express their feeling outward. This expression takes energy and vulnerability. Also, the audience will likely share the experience with friends; they want their friends to feel what they feel. When that happens, others will come to know about your work and want to see you. When that happens, you’ll create an epidemic. You’ll thrive. Make art that inspires a reaction, a response.Be a better artist. Serve the others. Come alive.

We find ourselves at the last step of the “Be a Better Artist” mini-series. - surface.  The shine, polish, error-checking, tweaks, bells, and whistles are the “surface.” It’s our first impression. Something as important as first impressions often receives little attention. Why?  I believe the reason musicians, and others, often overlook the surface is that they place too much emphasis on craft. We want to be appreciated for our craftsmanship, right?    Yes, and no. Yes, I want others to appreciate how I applied my craft and attention to detail to create something that aligns with my idea. No, because the only way someone will recognize my skills is if they have an excellent first impression of the work. Consider the below.    Isn’t the idea that people walk away having received your message?Don’t we want people to feel something from our work?Isn’t the idea to communicate our thoughts?Sell a CD?Buy a service?Sign up for a mailing list?If so, surface matters.Surface matters because without it, we lose the opportunity to make an impactful first impression. First impressions motivate our customers to learn more about us. First impressions get people to want to listen to what we have to say.  Your “ideas” are worth believing in and, therefore, worth the effort of polishing the surface of your work. Make an effort and take the time to create a remarkable first impression. Be a better artist.

We spend too much time building and not enough time planning our work. Those who know me might say, “David, you hate tons of planning!” I do, humans are terrible estimators of time (another blog post for another day), but equally, I feel if you build without knowing what you’re trying to make, you’re making it wrong. Craft is big, but not more important than any other step in making better art.  I had the privilege of working with incredibly talented and dedicated artists. I am speaking of individuals with daily practice and wellness routines, people who desired critical feedback, and individuals that wanted to see themselves and others put in maximum effort to create exceptional music. What’s the problem?  These same people often didn’t focus on intention, form, idiom, or structure of their work. They immediately took to their craft of building without a plan. They were creating fine-enough music, but they could have produced better art.  The action of applying your skill, knowledge, and invention to create something is craft.    Your ability to craft well is a culmination of:Lessons;Practice;Failures;Coachings;Mentorships;Self-Help books;Juries;Performances;Workshops; orAny activity that involves practicing a skill.That’s the problem - we focus too much on practicing our building skills. School’s do us wrong.  In school, we learn to comply with rules, follow directions, memorize, and know the right answer. We’re focused too much on the wrong part of the process. What if we were pushed to think more about ideas? Or understanding different mediums we can use to communicate? Exposure to more and more ways of expressing our ideas? What if we were encouraged not to memorize, but to apply knowledge to problems that don’t have the right answers, but only “the best” solutions? If we did, we would be learning how to create better art.  Create better art by:Generating an idea;Visualize the form;Pick an idiom that best resonates with those you seek to serve;Define the structure; and thenApply craft.Don’t focus too much in any one area; balance is essential.

To be a better artist, spend time developing the form of your work.  With a piece of paper and a pencil, do the following:Write out your idea.Write out the form your idea will take.Describe the idiom you’ll use to reach those you seek to serve.Now describe the structure of your work.What’s the structure?What do I include?What do I leave out?How do I arrange my ideas?How will I build this product/service/piece?What if this is a song?What do I include? A hook, one bridge, a breakdown.What do I leave out? Solos, extended sections, the verse about my car.How do I arrange my ideas? Write out the song structure, “the form.“How will I build this piece? I’ll spend time each day working on one section. Then I’ll ask a trusted friend/advisor to review my work.Organizing your idea, your process, and your talent into a meaningful way that produces something better is structure. The mistake that many of us make is, we start with “structure” and then go to the other steps.  Bit by bit, part by part, and (not “side-by-side” for my theater fans) with purpose, you’ll start creating better art, in all its forms.

To date, on the “Be a Better Artist Series,” I’ve discussed generating ideas and how to realize those ideas with form. But, recognizing the “form” work will take is part of the game, we must understand its “idiom.“Consider this blog as an example.  Idea: ideas and insights for musicians struggling to find meaningful work.Form: the written word.Idiom: a blog.How about a song?Idea: a message for people attracted to bad relationships.Form: a song.Idiom: a country song.Parenthetically speaking, I’ve got no reason for picking country music other than it seemed an entirely reasonable choice of genre (read: idiom) for this type of song.  The idiom you choose is one that will best resonate with those you seek to serve. Additionally, there’s no right answer. There’s only the answer that might resonate the best. I could express my idea through the written form through any number of idioms: a printed newsletter, a painting, an infographic, you name it.  To create better art, start with an idea, visualize the form, and then pick an idiom that best resonates with your audience. For me, I’ll continue to use this blog; it seems to work.

An idea only exists in your head or your journal. It does not exist in any other concrete form we can manipulate into something that makes the “something better.” We need to think about - “form.“The “Form” is what the idea looks like when realized in our world. I wanted to communicate my insights and learnings to the world. I chose the “written word” as a “form” to express my ideas.  You may have an idea for a piece that speaks to people’s attraction to poor relationships. You want to express this idea in the form of a song with lyrics. Or perhaps through an instrumental piece? Maybe it’s visual and not aural?   You express your idea to the world through “form.“You’ll know the form you need by thinking about a few points.Identify the talents you can bring to bear.Think about how people will want to interact with your idea.Meditate and use your “mind’s eye” to visualize.Create better art by starting first with an idea, then think about how you’ll express it to the world. Identify the form.

We build better art when we start with an idea.  An idea begins in your head.  An idea can be a spark, an emotion, a cathartic experience, a belief that you are meant to create, or as simple as a message you want to communicate.  Without an idea, your work lacks intention.  Work that lasts begins with intention.  To make better art, you do not need a groundbreaking vision. No. Take a moment to allow yourself to be bored.  Put away your phone.Turn off the music.Remove distractions.Focus on your breathing.Exist.Do this for as long as possible, perhaps an hour. Aim to spend extended periods doing nothing.Eventually, you’ll want to do something.  Eventually, you’ll have an idea to make the experience better.Eventually, you’ll have a thought that, if realized, makes better what you do.  What keeps us from actually making better art, then?  We are afraid to take a step.Perhaps our ideas are meaningless?Perhaps people will laugh?Perhaps the cynics are right?Perhaps I’ll lose more than I gain?The list goes on. Overcome your fear and make better art.Write down all of your ideas.Each day, take a step to make something better.Each day, take an opportunity to be present with yourself and get bored.Each day, take one small step to realize your ideas.  Come alive.

A medium is any channel of communication (spoken word, art, music, written word, to name a few.) Go a step further; it means to create a bridge between two or more minds using a tool.  This blog uses the written word, as a medium, to communicate what’s inside my head to you.   I’ve never been a great writer, but I’m working on getting better. Writing every day helps! However, what percentage of what I see and feel within gets transmitted to you? How much do you receive?  As defined by Scott McCloud in his book, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, “The mastery of one’s medium is the degree to which that percentage can be increased, the degree to which the artist’s ideas survive the journey.”  We master the medium by acknowledging a simple fact, to “master a medium” is to be an artist. We are all capable of being artists.  The “be a better artist,” mini-series starts today.

You are not a mind reader.
Others cannot read your mind.

You must see others to understand their needs. You must speak to show others you understand.

To see means to be empathetic.
To speak means to communicate through a medium.

Empathy is placing yourself in the situation of another to understand them better. Go a step further; it means to tell yourself the story of another person as they would say it to you.