Rod Judkins is an artist and writer who lectures on creative methods and processes at one of the world’s foremost art colleges – Central Saint Martins College of Art. It is one of the world’s pre-eminent art schools whose alumni – ranging from artists like Lucian Freud, Stella McCartney, Sarah Burton and Alexander McQueen – have helped shape our culture. Rod is also a figurative artist who trained at the Royal College of Art in London and has had numerous one-man exhibitions at Tate Britain, The National Portrait Gallery, and Royal Academy.
As an artist, he encountered many creative thinkers in London’s art world. In his books, “The Art of Creative Thinking” and “Make Brilliant Work” he sets down some of the lessons that can be learned from the creative methods of famous artists and thinkers.
1.Your book, “The Art of Creative Thinking”, offers a profound understanding of human creativity through inspirational stories about famous artists, entrepreneurs, and other creative thinkers. How can those stories provoke readers to embark in their own creative journey?
The motivation to write “The Art of Creative Thinking” was to help my students at Central Saint Martins discover their creative journey. Every chapter explains a method that allows people to be more creative. For instance, in the chapter “Feel Inadequate”, I address how we all feel that we are not talented enough. I used the example of when I was a student at the Royal College of Art, and David Bowie visited to look at our work. We were all struck by his lack of confidence in himself, but his self-doubt was part of his driving force to prove himself.
I also told the story of Todd McFarlane who worked for Marvel Comics. They asked him to make his drawings less shocking, so he quit and, despite his self-doubt, started his own company and became a huge success. We all suffer from self-doubt, but we have to find a way to overcome it.
2.You consider creativity “a way of relating to your life: it is about creating yourself, creating a better future, and taking the opportunities that you are currently missing”. Should we be talking about sustainable creativity or creative sustainability? Or both? ”
I come at it from the angle of sustainable creativity. I think the creatives are sensitive people, and sustainability is about being sensitive to our environment. To achieve long-term sustainability, we must push towards a green economy and find creative solutions. Creativity and sustainability are inseparable.
In my new book, “Make Brilliant Work: How to Unlock Your Creativity and Succeed”, I use the example of how a firm of Italian architects responded to a competition to design a bridge. They created a power station – with a bridge attached. The “Solar Wind” bridge had twenty-six wind turbines added to the structure and solar cells embedded in the roadway and could generate enough renewable energy to power thousands of homes. They went the extra mile and solved more than the problem of crossing from one side to the other. My point was: don’t see your goal as fulfilling the client’s brief; see your goal as producing something extraordinary.
If your work is ordinary, there’s a solution: add “extra” to ordinary. Maybe you feel you are an ordinary person doing an ordinary job in an ordinary way. Decide to do something “extra”, and you’re on your way to becoming “extra” ordinary. “Extra” is from the Latin, meaning “beyond, better than the ordinary”. It’s not enough to fulfil the brief. Be generous. Go above and beyond what’s expected of you.
3.“Make freedom a career” is one of your most powerful urges. Creativity requires dedication as well as mental liberation, but sometimes one can feel stuck. What is your advice for those who feel lost and are not able to see their inner creative spark?
Let me tell you the story of Hergé, the creator of the Tintin books, and his creative block. He didn’t produce anything for months and had nightmares due to the blank page syndrome. He went to see a psychiatrist who advised him to kill off Tintin and retire because work was destroying his mental health.
Hergé ignored the psychiatrist’s advice. He decided creativity was the solution, not the problem. He wrote about his creative block. Tintin in Tibet is about Tintin lost in the snowy white Himalayas looking for a friend. It’s a metaphor for Hergé being lost and searching for a solution. I tried to show that overcoming creative block is about asking yourself what you care about most and using that as your subject matter.
4.In another book you wrote, you consider ideas “our only currency”. It is interesting to see ourselves as ideas juke boxes, but, actually, implementing those ideas should be the bold response to this volatile world we currently live in. How can we make sure our ideas do not go to die?
The point of my book “Ideas Are Your Only Currency” is to help every reader become an “ideas person”. At Central Saint Martins, we don’t try to produce a graphic designer, sculptor, or fashion designer. We try to create an “ideas person” who is comfortable thinking up lots of ideas and then chooses the best one. If it isn’t successful, we help them rapidly to think of another one.
5.Creativity should be seen as a pillar of sustainable development, as it is vital for our lives and our planet. What is the future that this combination unlocks? How do you think the world is going to heal and recover?
I agree that creativity is the pillar of sustainable development. In “Make Brilliant Work”, I use the example of a beautiful building called “The Egg” in Mumbai. Architect James Law created a planet – a significant, inspiring construction. It’s a building with a self-contained, sustainable, natural ecosystem like a planet, where high levels of natural light create low-energy demand. At the same time, solar-energy panels and wind turbines generate electricity.
It’s a self-contained, mini-world delivering an enjoyable environment in which to live and work. The latest technology enables “The Egg” to be aware of the heating and lighting and adapt it as necessary: it’s a “smart” building, a conscious entity. It’s a building you can fall in love with, feel a deep emotional attachment to, because it’s more than just a structure: it’s an idea.
I use it as an example of how a great idea holds your project together and keeps it driving forwards. It’s an engine to power your way through the inevitable problems you’ll encounter.
6.In what striking ways do you think the pandemic changed the business of ideas? Which top three lessons did you learn in 2020?
The first lesson would be to get people to help you. I wrote the last chapters of “Make Brilliant Work” when the pandemic struck, and some of the chapters reflect on the changing business environment. In the chapter, “Help People to Help You”, I use Robert Altman, one of the greatest and most influential film directors of his generation, as an example of how you need to get people to help you. As a director, he was the team leader and inspired loyalty. He gave his crew freedom and urged them to fulfil their potential. He was the cement that held a team together, and he became the director everyone wanted to work with. You can’t produce brilliant work without help from others. It’s counterintuitive, but the more generous you are, the more people give you. The second lesson would be from the chapter, ‚Disrupt or be Disrupted.’ The speed of change makes nonsense of strategic planning. Sudden developments in technology create uncertainty, causing anxiety. Unexpected events disrupt your routines, and confusing new ideas appear almost daily. But there’s a way of dealing with and prospering from the chaos. Embrace it and use it to your advantage.
The third lesson would be from the chapter “Which Class of Person Are You?”. Leonardo da Vinci said: “There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see”. Our task is to become “those who see” and notice the possibilities around us. We are all born into the “those who do not see” group but can elevate ourselves to the “see when they are shown” group with education. We have our eyes open, but our minds shut, and we never “see” what is around us. We must join “those who see” and be alert and aware of the value (and I don’t mean monetary value) of our surroundings.
The interview was initially published in November 2021, in the bilingual yearbook Community Index Magazine no. 3, printed edition. It can be ordered here: https://communityindex.ro/community-index-magazine-2021/
