In this day and age, it’s so easy to feel isolated, especially for those of us who spend our free time doing quiet creative activities alone. I speak from experience as someone who likes to write. It seems a good portion of my writing time is spent alone: just me, my hot cocoa and a computer.
It doesn’t have to be like that, though. In fact, one of the best parts of being a creative person is interacting with other creative people! Communities of artists, writers, musicians, cosplayers and more are everywhere and they’re filled with incredibly talented people and potential great friendships. Even though our work might feel inherently lonely, once we get to meet these other creatives, we can start to collaborate ⏤ which is where the magic really begins. Here are some of the reasons creative people should work together.
Bouncing Ideas/Getting inspired
I know we’ve all heard this a million times before, but when we get a few heads together to brainstorm, we can emerge with so many more ideas than just one person could imagine. Working together helps our ideas flourish, filling each blank with more possibilities, and leaving more room to create amazing things. Personally, I’ve found some of my best creations to be collaborations. Working with others has allowed me to incorporate many interests and abilities into something wonderful, and after a while, I emerge with a comprehensive work that features the best of many.
Talking about your ideas with other people lets you better explore and refine them. I find this to very much be the case for those of us who like writing fiction, especially fantasy. In order to explain something to someone else, you need to really understand what you’re explaining, so by talking about your work with others, you fill in the blanks until you have a very comprehensive idea. Better yet, the person you’re explaining to may have questions about what you’re making, and these questions help you develop your ideas further!
Cheer each other on!
An unexpected but fantastic outcome of the aforementioned teamwork is that you have a group of people eagerly waiting to see what you do! It’s like your own miniature fandom! If you’re working in a creative team, people tend to be much more interested in what you’re doing because they’ve helped you create it. They want to see what you’ll do with the content, how you describe an event, how you design your shared world. For me, this usually comes out when I write short stories that take place in a shared world. Because you created the settings and characters together, your creative partners want to see your work, encouraging you to write or draw or otherwise create even more! It’s like a constant source of inspiration and motivation. With a supportive audience, your work never dies, and neither does your passion.
Bring art to multiple mediums
Collaborating together doesn’t just apply to people who work in the same medium. Above, I mostly focused on creative writing, but one of the best parts of creative work is how fluid it is. Working together over multiple mediums really brings art to life because it starts to exist in different ways! For example, you could write a character into a short story and an artist will visualize them into something more concrete. These designs, whether they’re only quick sketches or full renders, help bring the world to life, letting you explore the character more. What is their style? How do they pose for a picture? What do they do outside of the story? Further, there might be someone who wants to cosplay a character based on this art, bringing a two-dimensional concept into the real world. How would they dance? What would they say?
This also works great with musicians. Sometimes, characters or stories provide just the right inspiration for a musician to compose something great. This can be a character theme, battle music, atmospheric music or just a song that expresses a vibe. By creating music, art doesn’t just become a concept or a drawing, but also something we can experience with our other senses. With a writer-musician collaboration, your work can transcend another level of emotion.
All this allows you to emerge with a great collaborative story that everyone has contributed to. The meaning of your art bends and changes into a thing that everyone can experience in more ways than one. Plus, it can be really satisfying to see your work brought to life.
Sharing and mentorship
Another great reason to work with other creative people is simply to help each other out. Whether this is through something as little as proofreading or critique, or a more structured form of help through seminars and mentorships, working together with other creatives can help you grow as a creator. You can share your experiences with people who think similarly to you and can work through the ups and downs of being an artist together. You have a support group to cheer you on and ride the waves with you! By working with more experienced creators, you can also learn from their mistakes and get advice. They may have lots of helpful techniques and information to share, and later you will be able to do the same for those less experienced than you. A supportive community is an excellent asset to any creative, and together, you can help each other learn and grow.
Truly, working with other creatives has brought me some of my favourite creative projects, and I’ve been able to meet so many incredible and inspiring people in my community. I hope throughout this article I’ve convinced you to take a shot at collaborating with some of the creatives in your life. You never have to go at it alone, so share your work with others and let them share theirs with you. I promise the results will be meaningful. :)