How many of you in here today like to write, draw, make films, or create different types of artwork? There have been creative people since the dawn of time. Authors, playwrights, filmmakers, songwriters, composers, painters, sculptors, and in today’s age even digital artists.
All of us in this room are interested in some sort of form of creative work. Even if you are not a very creative person, you do enjoy things that a creative person made. Different songs you might like, films you like to watch, books you may like to read, or you might even be interested in looking at certain pieces of artwork. All of these things, creative people played a role in making.
I, myself, am a pretty creative individual. I have been ever since I was young. I have even shocked myself when recently I picked up a hobby in painting. Some of the things I like to do for fun are make short films, paint, write, and work with digital design.
Today I am going to express what led me to an interest in wanting to make short films, work with digital design, and what got me interested in painting.
Let’s start with my interest in making short films, first. I was probably around 10 or so when I first got interested in making short films. The film that started that interest for me was Back To The Future. The special effects and the story line left me awestruck. As a kid I always wondered “How did they do that?” When I heard that Steven Spielberg played a role in the making of the series, I had gotten interested in his other films, and to this day he remains one of my biggest influences, although my short films are nothing like his. I was so inspired by the film and it’s sequels that I at one time even wrote a screenplay that was similar to it.
I was so interested in the technicalities of making a movie, that when my Jr. High school offered me a chance to work on there “news” broadcast that the students put on for the school, I took it. My job was to run the cameras and the mixing board, and even do some video editing.
Mom even bought a camcorder to video family events with. Now, this camcorder wasn’t one of those small dinky pocket size ones you have now. This one was a big one that weighed probably 5 or 10 pounds that you put a VCR tape in to record on. I took the skills I learned in that Jr. High broadcast class and started making my own little videos and things with it, including me and a couple friends doing things in front of the camera. I eventually bought a digital camcorder, and I have made a few documentary type films that I have put on YouTube. I would love to possibly make some Christian films someday.
Another creative thing I like to do, which I probably have a better chance at having a possible career with, is digital design.
I was 16 years old when I first started using the internet, and the first time I used it I learned that anyone could create their own websites, however at that time there were several sites online that offered “build your own personal website” services, but the technology of it I thought was pretty basic, and not very creative. I wanted to learn how to be creative with site design, and how to build a site from scratch so I bought a book on HTML web design, and for those of you that don’t know HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language – it’s the language that tells a web browser how to show the pages you have created.
When I was 23, I was taking care of a website for a friend of mine, when someone he worked with who knew about graphic design came up to him and said he could make the site look much more professional. My friend in turn put me in touch with this co-worker who introduced me to graphic design. I than learned some graphics editing software and designed some graphics of my own with the software, and realized I have potential working in the digital arts field.
This eventually led me to want to go back to school, so I am now currently in my 3rd semester here at NorthArk for My Information Technology with the Emphasis in Digital Media degree.
During my first semester here, I took Basic Design I. At the beginning of that semester, I didn’t think I would do that well in that class. Even though I am pretty creative, I never saw myself as much of a painter. In art classes growing up, all I could draw were stick figures, and my lines were never straight and I often had difficulties coloring in the lines. In basic design class though, I learned I don’t have to be able to really draw to be a painter. I just got to have a creative imagination, and anything can become art.
I don’t think I’m a great artist though. My work is nothing compared to Picasso, or Dali, or Van Gogh’s work. However, I do feel my work does have some potential. I have made some paintings that I am currently trying to sell, and when my wife and I are running our booth at the farmer’s market, my paintings are usually on display there.
In closing, today I introduced myself and my creativity and what led me to being a creative minded individual. I personally believe that we all have a creative side to us in some way, shape or form. However, I think some of us feel that is our true calling in life. I am on several social networks for the sole purpose of marketing my brand. The brand of which is my creativity. I would love to use my creative mind for anyone that needs creative thought and input. So remember, whenever you watch a good film, read a good book, see a painting that you like – somebody with a creative mind did that. Thank you.
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