Spencer Clark Cards and Life

Aviv M. – Creativity 2.0

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Creativity 2.0 - avivm

 

(WARNING: THIS IS LONG)

 

Everyone wants to create their own flourishes and come up with new ideas/concepts with cards, but the question is…HOW?#!@!

I know it’s annoying when you ask someone how they come up with new ideas and they say “it just happens”, but it’s true. If you have created a flourish, you know what they’re talking about, and if you haven’t yet, you will.

I can’t tell you exactly what causes the formation of  new ideas, but I will share with you some ways which have helped me in my creative process to develop new flourishes, and how I think when I’m creating.

 

SO LET’S GOO

 

In Spencer’s creativity post, he gives tips on what he does to foster creativity, but he didn’t mention music.

I can’t create without music. I always listen to music when I’m working on ideas, it provides a way to tune out everything else and focus on the job at hand, so to speak. Find what music you like the most and different artists in the same genre, or branch out and find something new.

When you think of ideas/concepts, film/write them down, even if the idea seems impossible or stupid. Eventually you’ll have a collection of ideas in front of you. Try to combine them and find ideas that you think will look good together, and work on making them into one complete flourish.

If you create a flourish and you don’t like a part of it, scrap that part and work on it as long as it takes you to find something you like. Don’t give up.

Sometimes old ideas (ideas you might forget if you don’t film them) will fit the new ideas. Don’t “limit” yourself, always be open-minded.

I remember a tip Jonas gave on Decknique regarding displays – you have an image of a display in your mind, and you try to lay out the cards on a table to replicate the image of thedisplay. This will help you figure out where to place your fingers, how to get into the display, and so on.

Ideas can also come from mistakes. Allow yourself to make mistakes, and create flourishes from those mistakes. You never know what you’ll come up with.

There are no limits.

Flourishes can be done on the floor/ceiling/leg, anything you can think of. You don’t have to finish/start with the mechanics grip all the time, start the flourish from the table and end it on your shirt. A cut doesn’t have to be only a cut, you can do a fan in the middle of the cut. Try to take movements from cuts and put them into fans/spreads/etc. Open with the closer and close with the opener, play around with the flourish.

Sometimes you’ll find yourself coming up with new ideas, getting into a creative “zone”. I find myself getting into this zone mostly when I’m sleepy and listening to chill music…

..I don’t even notice the moves I’m doing, so I turn on my cam and record myself as long as I stay in a creative zone.  Afterwards I have footage of a bunch of weird ideas, and I edit the footage into clips with ideas that I liked the most, so I can work on them.

Sometimes you will get a “creativity block”, which sucks but be patient, it will pass eventually (you can use it as an opportunity to practice your moves).

Try to take a break from cards from time to time (a day, month). Go out with your friends and have fun, you will come back with a different attitude.

Draw inspiration from everything. Use videos, flourishes, music, outside experiences, everything to inspire you.

Experiment with different moves. For example if I see a move I really like, I will learn it. After I learn it I’ll play around with it and break the flourish into steps, twist certain parts, and try to come up with something new.

Let’s break down Pandora, for example, as this is probably the most popular flourish in cards at the moment. (Pandora is an advanced/improved version of another flourish on “The System” * always work on old ideas*). In the original Pandora, Dan did a revolution cut before doing the display, so you can take this idea and expand on it. He does a one-handed-cut in the middle of a two-handed-cut.

Basically you can do whatever one-handed-cuts you can think of or even fan in the middle of the flourish. Mix it up. I can keep going on about this, but you get the idea. Find something you like, break it down, and you will get ideas from there.

Draw inspiration from real life; try to translate everything into a flourish. Think of a cogwheel (see below), you can look at it visually-take the cards and try to mimic the movement of the cogwheel.

You can also think of the mechanics of it-one movement causes another movement.

Use your imagination, think outside of the box. Think creatively with everything, not just cards.

 

Be open to what you can improve in a flourish, try to look at it in different ways, you might come up with something new.

See how it looks in front of the camera or mirror. Sometimes changing angles gives you another perspective of the flourish, and you are able to see things you couldn’t before.

Ask people for their honest opinion, and what they think of the flourish or if you should change a part of it. Hearing other people’s opinions is really important. A good way to share your work and get other opinions is YouTube. You can upload a video and see what other people think instantly. Every time I upload a video, I wait for the comments because I want to know what people think of those ideas. It helps to keep me motivated and make more videos. If you like someone’s flourishes/ideas let them know and comment on the videos, buy their DVDs/on-demands or whatever, support them and appreciate their work.

 

BE YOURSELF.

 

I’m not saying to not be inspired by other people, but don’t copy them. Don’t try to be the best Dan and Dave, be the best you. If we copy each other we won’t get anywhere. The art needsto develop and grow, and this will happen if everyone brings something new to the table.

Remember that you have to enjoy the process of creating, that’s the point of it.

By writing this post I am not implying that I am the most creative cardist. Experimenting and creating is just something I have fun doing, and these are some of the ways I create.

I hope these tips have helped you in some way  =)

Thanks for reading!

-Aviv M.

Comments are open, let Aviv know what you think!