Putting our “Creative Energy Spark” to Good Use

February 10, 2019
By Jan Gutowski, Creativity Coach

“This world is but a canvas for our imagination” – Henry David Thoreau

“I cannot do this since I’m not creative!” says the friend, co-worker or student. Or, sometimes we even say this of ourselves. Part of the problem might be that we really don’t know how to recognize Creativity, or the fact that it has many facets. Our obvious go-to may be to define creative in the more literal sense of being a fine artist, such as someone who can draw well, or who is adept at painting or sculpting. What we often fail to recognize, though, is that the ability to create is innately human; and that every human being is blessed with creative talent, in one form or another. Call it the “creative energy spark” that lives inside every one of us; yet often gets disregarded or overlooked. Sometimes the problem is we fall into the diabolical vortex of comparing ourselves to others; which can cause us to revert into a negative, lower-vibe self-perception. Raising up our spiritual frequency to help recognize how we are truly unique beings will open up our willingness to be inspired by the world around us; and will go a long way to help us recognize that one-of-a-kind, amazing creator inside, capable of making things happen!

Being a problem solver is a powerful form of creativity. Think of a time when you were in a real situational pickle – you found a solution and survived right? Or, perhaps you knew to leverage specific skills or talents within yourself and in others to come up with the epiphany needed to get past said pickle. And then when it was all over, you may have thought to yourself “how the heck did I pull THAT off?” Call it cleverness, call it the ability to think on your feet, or just call it the prowess to simply take charge and figure it out. All these are products of your unique creative energy, your inner spark. We don’t tap into this invaluable resource nearly enough; but when we do, we can really impress ourselves… until we get struck by the fear of “But will I be able to do this again if I had to?” or “how do I top that next time around?” Quickly dismiss the worry and fear, since they do not serve us. Rest assured, the great ideas will always come to you and those who you surround yourself with, as long as we always remember to keep our eyes on the prize and not over-complicate our path in getting there.

Keep it simple by learning to be more in tune with how we get from A to B by:

• identify the specifics of the goal (to-do list)
• invite open-mindedness and remove any mental barriers to determine the how (Be collaborative by enlisting the ideas & insights of others whenever possible)
• determine the who in terms of talents needed to achieve the goal (tap into the best resources for the job)

One of the most impressive displays of creative problem-solving I had witnessed in my professional life happened while working on the animated feature Lilo & Stitch at the Walt Disney Feature Animation Studio in Florida (2001). Typically, on an animated film, enough footage is created, cut, and re-done throughout the course of production to be the equivalent of making 3 feature films. On this production, though, the creative direction was clear, the processes were efficient, and it was a remarkably smooth journey! Then the horrific events of 9/11 happened, which prompted a sizable change to one of our completed sequences of the film.

In this sequence which occurs toward the end of the film, there is a spaceship chase which features Jumba, Pleakley, Nani and Stitch in hot pursuit of Gantu, who has poor Lilo in his evil clutches. Before 9/11/01, this sequence was complete and “in the can”, indicating that it had made it to final film print. The original sequence story line went like this:  Stitch commandeers a commercial airliner, the gang takes off in the airliner pursuing Gantu’s ship, the chase commences inside a city center with fancy flight maneuvers happening between skyscrapers, eventually resulting in our heroes capturing Gantu and saving the day.

The decision to re-do the sequence in order to remove any associations to a plane hijacking or a plane flying into and around buildings was immediate. Lilo & Stitch is regarded as a 2D animated feature (hand-drawn); however, the spaceships and many of the film’s effects are 3D elements. The challenge was how to keep most of the wonderful animation already completed in this sequence, yet solve the issue on the table. It was decided to attempt to replace only the items we needed to change, and keep most of the original character animation and 2D Effects animation intact. (identify the goal)

One of our very incredibly talented 3D modelers was able to solve this issue with a simple design approach:  Create a spaceship to replace the 747 airliner, only design the spaceship to have the same wing span and registration points (windows, doors, seats, control panels, etc.) to which the characters had already been drawn against. Perfect solution! (And, can you believe that our modeler completed the redesign of this new spaceship over the span of only one weekend?) (determining the how and the who)

Once the ship was rendered, all the other animated elements would be married up to the new vehicle seamlessly. It was also decided that the chase would take place in the mountains of Kauai rather than a city central, and so those background elements were also replaced.

This creative solution for the 747 chase sequence was a collaboration of many problem solvers, beginning with identifying the specifics of what needed to be done, gaining perspective on the how, and then leveraging the right talent to make the solution a reality.  The result: crisis averted and a visual masterpiece! …And achieved with such amazing efficiency!

View portions of the sequence transformation

The path to leveraging our creative energy spark to maneuver through the various challenges in life becomes much smoother when we allow our ego to take a little vacation while we assess the task at hand. Ignite the spark by inviting all possibilities to come to the table before establishing the specifics of the goal check list. Sometimes the best idea isn’t our idea – but that’s okay. Keep the higher objective the priority, and everybody wins!

We also need to remember to give ourselves a license to be human. We should not feel discouraged if we don’t hit it out of the park right away or every time. Each experience teaches us something new, and this must be received, with gratitude, as a positive building block toward our skyscraper of self-discovery and growth. Creativity is ever-evolving; but if we embrace the journey, and appreciate the gifts we receive along the way, we will soon begin to identify those attributes which define us as creative agents of awesomeness!

Go CREATE something today!

-jg