Right brain = creativity

I'm quite frustrated and not sure if this normal or not. I'm also not sure what to do about it.

I'm so into my left brain it isn't even funny. I've got accounting and computer science degrees, I work in IT, I spend my weekends, nights and holidays with computers, etc.

However, I have this deep desire to be more creative in my life. I've always had this but every time I start to explore that side of my personality, I tend to not like what I'm seeing and therefore go rushing back to what I know. But the desire remains and I remain frustrated.

Drawing - Tried this many times and other than perspective drawings where it all seems very ordered with parallel lines and such, I'm awful. Don't even ask me to draw a face, it's horrible and I've really worked on it.

Sculpting - With clay - I used to make tombstones/walls as a kid because they were easy. I never could do this. Then as an advlt I bought some Sculpy and tried to make some things and I was able to....but it didn't really scratch that itch properly.

Painting - never tried this because if my drawing is bad, painting would simply be more expensive drawing....at least that's how I think of it.

Music - I played violin in 3-5th grades then switched to trumpet from 6-10th grades and haven't done anything since. I never did have good pitch and I wasn't all that great of a musician but this is probably the furthest I've gone creatively and actually won some awards from my middle school years but nothing significant. I tried to pick back up the trumpet a number of years ago and it just wasn't happening. I didn't enjoy it at all.

Writing - I have a friend, who's a writer and film maker and he tells me that I tell awesome stories. When we're hanging out, he says that I have a special ability that he doesn't see in most people to capture a story and present it in an interesting and often times funny way. He also said that if I would start honing my skills that I could be a master story teller. The problem is, writing to me is so clunky and inhibiting. I don't know, it's just extremely tedious sometimes and doesn't really feel like I'm being creative.

Photography - When I was in college, I took a photography class and one of our "extra credit" activities was to get something published. I contacted a local, small news paper and they sent me on an assignment - a chili cook off. It was fun and I remember enjoying it immensely!! I enjoyed the build up to the event, thinking I was a photographer just waiting to work. I enjoyed the event, trying to find interesting and compelling shots. I enjoyed talking to people, learning about them and then somehow trying to get a shot that was interesting. The whole experience was outstandingly fun and compelling to me but this was the only event like this that I ever worked on. I'm not really sure why but I just didn't do much else with it.

I turned in my roll of film and after a few days the woman at the paper that "hired" me, it was a free gig, said that usually with these sorts of things that she can only use 1 or 2 pictures from a person's roll of film, tops. However with mine she said she could pretty much used every single picture except 1 or 2 shots! This was over 20 years ago and I've never done much with photography since.

I never pursued more with photography for a variety of reasons. Many of which are family, timing, expectations from parents and myself, and a whole lot of other reasons and not the least of which is that all of the really compelling pictures have already been taken. I mean how many more pictures of old barns, fences, flowers, trees and all that do we really need? I see so many pictures that are interesting but I just don't think there's a whole lot more that can be done with pictures. I mean honestly, from color to B&W to composition, to lighting, to post correction/enhancements....it's all been done....hasn't it?

Ok, so this is kind of a ramble but honestly, it's where I am.

I still feel this compelling feeling, it's more like an itch, to be more creative in my life and to live more creatively.

How does one go about this when it's all been done before?

How does one maintain motivation when the results are less than satisfying?

How does one stay the course when one realizes that the term "starving artist" exists for a reason and that starving isn't fun at all?

Is it really reasonable to expect to be able to live a creative life and actually NOT starve or even thrive?



TLDR - I want to live more creatively and tried numerous things in the past. I don't stick with anything and have a deep feeling that "it's all been done before". How does one resolve these things and bring more creativity to their life?

That's the big secret. Creativity doesn't feel like you're being creative. Things don't just appear out of thin air, you have to work at them. Everything you've mentioned is a skill, not a talent, and as such has to be learned and driven into practice with courageous patience.

If your looking to be totally original you'll be dissapointed. But if you enjoyed photography give it another run. Sure there probably isn't a type of photograph that hasn't been done, that doesn't mean you can make some outstanding work. A great landscape is still a great landscape. If someone tells you it reminds them of Ansel Adams that's a compliment. Same with portraits or abstract work. I went to school for photography so I know the frustration of trying to come up with original shots. But at the end of the day your photos move you, that's all that really matters.

Sadly creativity is a hard subject to deal with for those that are on the left side. It's only recently that i've found my creativity and really it's just tracing stuff with the pen tool in Photoshop. If I were you it would be best to just start small looking at different avenues seeing what makes you feel comfortable. Once you find something that suits your needs expand upon it but keep it controlled.

Since you're here, I assume you're into gaming... Have you considered modding? The editors for Bethesda's games are fairly easy to get started with and there's a lot of possibilities - and plenty that hasn't been done before.

How about 3D modelling? Either on it's own or for modding purposes. It works quite differently from physical sculpting, and I find it a lot of fun - and it's very rewarding to see your work in game.

Actually there's a good program for 3D modeling out there think it's called Sculptris or something along those lines. Unless they changed it the program is free or older versions of it are free under that global licensing thing. You can work with a ball of clay and sculpt it into various forms which is fun. Seen several well done works by people out there that have good practice with it. Only problem is with the older versions it does rev up your CPU a bit.

Maybe it really is that simple. That becoming good at creative things is more like work than creating creatively.

Perhaps it's just my expectation that I want to feel more fulfilled creatively but it's not actually a reasonable expectation.

It's funny that you mention this. I was just talking to a friend of mine about creating a mod for train simulator turning it into combat train simulator! lol I dunno, sounds funny but still compelling to me for some reason.

About 3D modeling, one of my friends is a teacher of this at a local CC. He's been teaching this stuff for years and he's quite accomplished. We talk about it all the time so yeah, perhaps I should sign up for one of his classes and see where it goes.

Hmm....this does sound compelling to me. Thanks for the suggestion!

Honestly, I think the problem is you're simply not that interested in the things you've been trying before. Were you drawing because you liked drawing or was it only a means to an end? In my experience, you need to find something you actually enjoy doing, then the creative part tends to just follow by itself. :shrug:

Heh yea, I've discussed this very idea with a couple of friends and I think you're correct. I'm a big believer in the idea that one does what they are. In other words, whatever one finds themselves doing while they're not getting paid is more in line with who they are.

I've also often thought that people that talk about doing this or that are really just being noisier about NOT doing something.

But the problem remains, I feel a strong desire to engage with my right brain more often. I feel a strong desire to create and I'm not entirely sure why nor what medium I should use.

It's hard to describe how strongly I feel this and how frustrated I get. I've described it a number of times as an itch that I can't quit scratch.

Ooh 3D modeling is fun. It takes a lot of time and patience, but for a lefty the attention to detail helps a lot.

I once spent like 10 hours making an exact 3D model of my trumpet just for the fun of it. Sat there with a a ruler to measure every single little bump and transferred it to 3dsmax, just so I could familiarize myself with the program a little more. When you finally zoom out and look at the whole thing it does feel really good knowing you made something that's recognizable (unlike the scrawling mess that anything I actually DRAW ends up like ).

Still, I can't help but admire people out there who create things. I'm a beast of consumption through and through, not a creative bone in my body, can't do a thing unless I've been taught first...so the ones who can just pick up a pencil and give life to characters and fantastical worlds are like magicians to me. Lucky me I have an insatiable appetite for learning.

Creating is not just for right brained individuals expressing themselves through artistic endeavors. Form and function are not mutually exlusive. Engineers design cars, planes, boats, buildings, traffic patterns, industrial machines, electronics, medical equipment, and a host of other useful, and from one's point of view, beautiful things. Crafstmen create elegant and practical things like tiles, furniture, textile art, metalworks, glassware, cusine.
Take for instance, such a simple thing as a fork. There are thousands of styles, yet, it's creation came about not because someone felt the need to express themselves though a medium of metal, but to consume a food product without contaminating their hands. Craftsmen then took this useful tool to new levels, building a clientele through the dependablity and quality of their work.
You just haven't found your fork. Quit bashing yourself trying to compare to poets, painters, photographers, sculptors, and muscians. Creativity is not limited to just those fields.

This. It starts out as a thought, and it's solely up to you to take that thought and turn it into something.

Isn't that right brain left brain thing a myth? I heard it was.

Fist thing, you have to be happy. Then, you can have whatever you desire.

I read that it was proved but later disproved. I actually read that today. It claims the difference between the two hemispheres is miniscule and is shrinking. I'll try to find a link.

raw a circle then add stuff to it that your think of, wolla creativness is growing

On the other hand.... if you sever the corpus callosum, in part or in whole (whole probably produces more predictable results), of an individual, you start to notice certain predictable and typically reproducible peculiarities about that individual's personality. Read up on it It's called split-brain. Long story short (to my understanding) the hemispheres don't interact with each another anymore, so functions that are limited to one hemisphere can only react to stimuli from the nerves controlled by that hemisphere.

Sorry for the slight off-topicness.

I can mod, but I can't model. Or draw. Or be musical. That's just who I am.

Of course these things are skills that need to be practised and learnt. But if you don't have fun learning them, or you just can't seem to grasp it after trying and trying, then it's just not for you.

Oh, just thought of something else... Ever tried Minecraft? If you want some immediate relief, that just might do it.


But do give photography another try too. The way I read it, you said you liked this and then you listed a bunch of excuses not to do it. Sure outside factors can turn you off from something, but... Well, you wrote a lot more about that than anything else - I can't help thinking that's an indication of something.

That does sound really cool and much more in line with my experience trying to draw. Grrrr....I can make some seriously ugly things.

I just heard something yesterday that I thought was interesting. It said that drawing is not as much about hand/eye coordination as it is about seeing things properly. Once you begin to see things properly, you'll be able to draw them properly.

I like that idea. In fact, I've been thinking a lot about this today at work because I'm struggling to get a "picture" of how my current assignment should be shaping up. It quite literally feels like writers block. But I work in IT so it's not really that - it just feels like that.

Oh me too.

I once worked as a waiter and one day this really tall, Native American guy came in and just ordered coffee and sat there drawing. I was busy but I would check back on him from time to time and he was amazing. He would take a blank sheet of paper and create these amazing images in pen, then use colored pencils to bring them to life.

It was amazing to watch him work and I sat there, transfixed. I would sit with him and talk when things slowed down and it was amazing. I can't remember any of the stories we talked about but I just remember thinking this guy is talented and very, very cool. He was just a regular person and enjoyed chatting with people.

He gave me 2 of his drawings that day and I have them framed and on my wall. In fact, they're right in front of me as I type this.

I love going to art festivals and one of my favorite activities is just to wander around and talk to all of the different artists. Some are full time artists and others have full time jobs and do the art festival scene as a side gig. But I just love talking to them about their art and hearing not only how they created a certain piece but also how they got into their particular medium. Fun stuff.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not actually bashing myself. At least I don't think I am.

I know that there are all different kinds of artists and as a programmer/data dude, I totally get what you're saying about creativity comes in all forms.

However, this itch I feel is something different than that and I'm struggling to find a way to scratch this itch.

This is also an old itch that comes and goes from time to time but I've never really felt like I've ever been able to scratch it quite right.

Very true but hopefully you realize from my first post that I've actually had some thoughts and tried to bring them to life. The purpose of this thread was to discuss my frustration with those experiences and try to get some insight as to removing said frustrations.


Really? Never heard this before.


What if having whatever I desire will make me happy? Catch-22?


I hope you do find a link because I'm hearing really different things. In fact, I'm listening to an audio book called "A Whole New Mind - Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future"

It's quite interesting and talks a lot about the current science of R and L brain activities. He's referring often to people that have damage to one side of their brains and the decrease in abilities that line up with the whole anolytical/creative sides of the brain.

If you want a quick, and rewarding creative outlet, try cooking!

First, what you put in, is what you get. So if you just throw eggs and flour and sugar and a pinch of salt you'll get crap, but if you take the time to make it good... you might actually make a brilliant dessert.

Second, eating it is only the second part of the fantastic reward. The first part is knowing you created something!

Starting simple is nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone starts somewhere.

Yeah the book I mentioned in my last post talks about how the right brain helps give context to the left brain. So things like humor and metaphor are understood in the right side and if that side is damaged, certain people can't understand it.


Yeah, I'm not making up excuses for dropping photography. It has to do with the time in my life and losing a dad and brother in 2 short years. I was an emotional wreck for the early part of my 20s so things that interested me just drifted off. As I got older, I haven't found it nearly as compelling.

But you're right, I really should spend more time with photography. I've got a great camera and an awesome Mac with some powerful editing software. Maybe I just need to get started and it'll flow naturally.