TRY Someone Else's Idea

Hi, I'm KJ (of The Adventures of KJ & The Dreamy Giraffe), I'm so excited to be your Try Day hostess (hopefully with the mostest!) for September -- and, yes, I've just encouraged you to try someone else's idea.

Now, before you think: "Wait a second!  I've just met this girl!  We haven't even shook hands yet!  I do not know what the K or the J stands for!  And yet she thinks it's cool to encourage me to be an unoriginal copycat thief?!  What's wrong with her?!"

...hear me out.  Because I'm really not encouraging you to be an unoriginal copycat thief, I promise! 

I have so many ideas for paintings and drawings, I keep a whole file with a numbered list of them and it's now up to around #400!

For the longest time, I've been toying around with the idea of hosting an idea swap, where the participants all submit one idea they've had and the ideas are mixed up and given out to someone else playing along...and everyone uses the idea they've gotten to create a piece of art or writing in their medium or genre of choice and then whatever is created is sent to the original idea-haver.  I'm not quite at the point in my blogging where I'm ready to host any kind of full-fledged swap yet...but I am intrigued of the idea of swapping...ideas.

I just wrote a post in my blog about the whole idea process and this is just a snippet:

For me, personally, the greatest thrill in being an artist is watching as a stray thought in my brain becomes a kernel of an idea...then a full-fledged idea...and then that full-fledged idea becomes a sketch on a blank canvas...and then, slowly but surely, step by step, stroke by stroke...it becomes an actual, tangible piece of art, that not only exists in my imagination but really and truly...exists.  It's like being able to show the world what's inside your head.  It's bringing something that was only yours to life so it can be shared...and it's awesome.  It's fun.  It's a joy.

As I wrote that, and the rest of the post, I began thinking, again, about the idea swap.  Because as amazing as it is to bring one of your ideas to life...wouldn't it also be just as amazing to see one of your ideas brought to life by someone else, to see how they'd interpret it, what they'd come up with?

If you've ever particpated in Illustration Friday or just swung by to check out all the entries, you know how wildly and widely different the responses to each prompt are!  Hundreds of people illustrate, paint, draw and cartoon the prompts every week..and everyone does it uniquely.  Everyone puts their own spin on the buzz word.

What would one of your ideas look like with someone else's spin on it?

So, this week, for Try Day, I'm encouraging you to ask a friend or family member for an idea and when they give it to you, execute it in your medium or genre of choice...you can create it as a painting or a softie or a short story or a poem.  Just bring someone else's idea to life (with their permission)!

                                                            

And if you have a friend or family member who you can trade ideas with -- (give them one of yours for one of theirs and they get to keep what you create and you keep what they create) -- even better!

                               

And if your friends and family members claim to be idealess, you can always try one of these:

                                       

A rainbow & a unicorn suggested by my friend (Lisa)

A girl on a swing suggested by my family member (Mom)

A girl with a crazy hat (from my idea list)

An animal faced girl (from my idea list)

Loaded (from the lovely Melba)

                                             

If YOU (yeah, you!) have some spare ideas lying around you'd like to see other creative bloggers bring to life, post'em in the comment section and I'll add them to the list.  I just might have to try one of them myself! ;)

                                          

Ooh, and, of course, if you try someone else's idea out and blog about it or upload a picture to your Flickr, be sure to post the link in the comments section so I can add some of those, as well! 

                           

See you next week!  Let's make September the best month that ever was!

                  

KJ

      

P.S.  I tried someone else's idea!  My dad said "fish on a couch" -- and here's what I came up with...not my usual style (which is whimsical, colorful big-eyed girls), not my usual medium (which is acrylic paint), but lots and lots of fun! (Click on the image to see it full-sized!):

Comments

[KJ]

It was a lot of fun! I'm glad I "tried" it. ;)

[Melba]

KJ ~ This post just makes me smile!!!
What a great idea ;)

I submitted a topic a L-O-N-G time ago to Illustration Friday and it never got picked.
It was the word "LOADED".
Anyone want to give it a try?

Thanks KJ, you are really starting off September on a High!!!

XO,
Melba