TweetMy husband and I are geeks.
For our vacations, we often travel to places far and wide, like Indiana and Ohio, to attend horror movie conventions like this one. This past weekend, we stayed a bit closer to home, heading down the road to Toronto to take in the FanExpo Convention. FanExpo, for those who may not be familiar, is Canada’s largest convention for Sci-Fi, Horror, Comics, Anime, and Video Game fans. It’s an entire weekend of geeky fun, including everything from a huge trade show, to celebrity meet and greets, to Jedi School.
What I love most about these conventions (or “cons”, as we regulars call them), is seeing the huge diversity of people in attendance. They range in age from 7 to 70, and come from all walks of life. Many are dressed in costumes. Convention-goers are really, REALLY into what they’re into – be it Star Wars, Anime, Iron Man, or Freddy Krueger.
What fascinates me most about convention-goers is that for them, it goes way beyond just an appreciation of a genre. These fans are not only consuming the movies, music, books and art, but they are using it as inspiration to create their own interpretations of what they are experiencing.
This weekend I saw hundreds of people sitting in the hallways, sketching elaborate, original comic book and Anime art. I saw a group of young people shooting a horror movie. I saw creature costumes of every shape and size, mostly home-made, elaborately stitched and painted and screwed together. People were putting as many hours into their creative expression as they were taking in the convention itself. In fact, the creativity was a huge part of the experience for many people.
Drawing a Blank?
We all have those moments where we feel the need to create something, but haven’t found the inspiration we need. We sit, staring at our blank page, wondering why it remains blank. We can’t force the good ideas to come.
The search for inspiration is one reason why so many artists are drawn to things like fan conventions. These events create an opportunity for creative people to meet other creatives, talk to successful directors, actors and writers about their craft, and see and experience the results of other peoples’ creativity. And I’m telling you, one weekend spent consuming and appreciating the types of things you want to create will give you more inspiration and creative power than you know what to do with.
So, if you really want to maximize your creative potential, you need to start by surrounding yourself with inspiring things. Want to write a song? Go see live, original music. Want to create visual art? Hang out at art galleries. Want to make a movie? Watch lots of movies. Want to write? Read a lot.
And remember….true inspiration is found in the things that are already created. So get out there, and get inspired!
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As I said to you the other day, Suze: “I envy you, Wesley Crusher!” (10 trillion points for the reference)
I’ve been to one con in my life (Wizard World Chicago, 5 – 6 years ago). In some ways it was a bit underwhelming, but it was still cool to be an arm’s length away from some writers and artists that I respected. On the other hand, I was within spitting distance of Gil Gerard and, man, has that guy changed.
Wonderful post, as always.
Captain Picard to Wes referring to the fact Wesley is young and at the start of the adventure. Not sure what season of Next Gen.
And I too have been at a few conventions, all Star Trek (which explains why I get Mark’s reference). I agree, creativity inspires creativity. There is a kind of synergistic effect.
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I’m not sure which season it was either, Bill – probably 2 or 3. I also think that Nick Tate (from Space 1999) was a guest star as well.
I struggle all the time with inspiration
You guys are spot on when you mention going back to what you’ve already created and grow from there. Sometimes I re-read some of my posts to see how I can grow my brand and message from them. We all get bogged down with work and life too but I really try to make an active effort to set time aside just for brainstorming for Financially Digital. Thanks for the post!
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