How To Learn A New Art Form
The cheapest way to learn any new art form is to study what has already been created. Too often, we wait for permission to learn something new. We dream about finding a great teacher. We fret about the money and time needed to complete school. But we forget that the very best examples of the art we want to create are openly available to us.
And we can learn all their secrets if we study them enough.
The first step is to break down the work you admire into bite size pieces. If it’s a book, break it down by chapters. If it’s a movie, do it by scenes. If it’s a song, by verses and choruses. Once you understand where the natural pieces fall, you’ll be able to dive deeper into what each one does.
The next step is to understand what’s happening. Take note of all the technical aspects of each piece. Essentially, you’ll create a reverse outline of the work. Go deep! Write down the dialogue verbatim. Take note of the lighting and the sound design. Listen to what instruments are playing during each verse. Once you understand the building blocks, you’ll know what to do if you want to create something similar.
The third step is to understand what each section does emotionally. If the bridge of a song feels intense, write down all the chords, instruments, and lyrics that create the intensity. If a chapter of a book is sad, take note of lines that feel the most poignant.
The fourth step is to create a derivative work. Make something new that uses the main aspects of the work you studied. This will help you solidify your learnings, and understand how to wield the tools for your own creativity. This is the most important step in the process, because it turns you from a critic into a creator. Before you create within a new art form, you might be wondering why the artists did what they did. But after you create something similar, you’ll see the constraints others ran up against.
Stop wishing you could create something like the things you love. get out a notepad, and start doing it! It’s all in your hands.
