On Creativity

This post is inspired by the weekly Discord Posting Topic from @mypathtofire - I was tagged in on it by @killerwot so it's all his fault 🤪

The topic is "Art or Creativity".

It was only when I sat down and started thinking about this post that I realised that most of my hobbies and interests over the years have actually had quite a degree of creativity to them.

I'm lucky enough to come from a family which is pretty creative. Also pretty dysfunctional, but that's another story. My undying shame is that I'm the only one who can't actually draw !

The Real Secret

There's on thing I credit as the source of my creativity. Insatiable curiosity. I can literally get fascinated by anything. It means I'm not a super-specialist in any one thing, but I'm a collector of useless information. There are a few topics I've dived into in more depth, mostly history related.

I'm not conceited enough to claim any great originality in what I create. But all this information swirling around in my head, as well as a bit of an obsessive attention to detail means I can synthesise bits from multiple disciplines into a coherent whole that feels new even if it's derived from unoriginal material.

The attention to detail also means that if I'm working on something truly historical, I can really focus in on authenticity and accuracy.

So what have I worked on ? In no particular order, and far from a complete list;

Model Making

One of my earliest hobbies was collecting and painting model soldiers and making plastic kits. I probably started that at about the age of six, when I first discovered the joys of Airfix toy soldiers.

It's something I still do, although finding time for it is hard. Especially as I now make a living selling modelling related products online !

A favourite topic when it comes to plastic kits is ships, particularly anything from the era before propellers came in, and I almost always take a kit that is supposed to be just a display model and make it so it floats and sails.

Viking raiders on my garden pond - models and photos by me

HMS Bounty - the water is real, not resin

Napoleonic Re-enactment

For a good number of years I did Napoleonic re-enactment as a hobby. Think of it as wargaming in 1:1 scale. Sadly, age and health have got the better of me, so I can't do it any more.

But it's a hobby absolutely full of historical research rabbit-holes. My own interest was in learning how to make the uniforms. They're not a thing where you can just go and buy them "off the peg", so I learned a huge amount from some very knowledgeable people about how they were put together. No sewing machines back then, it was all hand sewn, and fitted to the individual.

I've struggled to find any photos - I'll have to get up into the loft, dig out a couple of pieces I made and make posts about them !

But in the meantime, here are a couple of detail photos I found of a cuff and some piping & buttonholes from a French officers' surtout I made. I also had to mould and cast the buttons myself !

Creative Writing

This is one that's hard to illustrate with photos !

For as long as I've known, I've been a storyteller. If I had to pick any one area of creativity I've stuck with throughout, it's been playing with words.

A lot of the stories have come from a couple of very long-running settings that have been in my head since childhood, developing and maturing over time (and stealing influences from all over the place as they've done so !)

The first practical application came when I started playing Dungeons and Dragons while I was still at school. It's a natural outlet for stories that want to be told, and for the creation of exotic and fascinating places. It's also a great way to learn social, planning and problem-solving skills.

Hive has given me the most fabulous outlet to take those tales and give them more concrete form. Not to mention that the various writing prompts I see, especially in the Worldbuilding Community, give me the opportunity to create new material and fill in gaps I hadn't even thought about. Earning a bit of crypto for making posts is really just an added perk !

3D Print Design

When 3D printers became a thing, it was only natural that I get one and start printing scenery and props for our D&D games.

It started with free files from Thingiverse and similar places. But it was inevitable that sooner or later I'd want bits and pieces that weren't available, so I learned how to use 3D design software to create my own. The package I use is Meshmixer, because I find it better for scenic pieces. I really should sit down and learn Blender sometime, but it's reputed to have a very steep learning curve indeed !

Here are a couple of the things I've designed;

A modular Tudor-style building for D&D - mostly used as a tavern. OpenLock compatible

A life-size lich's phylactery - liches are a kind of undead in D&D, who keep their life force in these little boxes. It's designed so the top can pop on and stay put

Conclusion

I'm incredibly lucky and privileged to live in a country where I have the time, money and resources to follow all these diverse interests. It's something I appreciate and don't take for granted; we've seen too often over the last few years how fragile civilisation is and how quickly supposedly stable countries can fall apart when pushed too hard.

But I firmly believe that creativity is natural to all humans. It's something we all do, just adapting it to our own circumstances. Some are creative in an artistic or abstract sense, others apply it in a more practical way.

I blame the first primitive hominids who picked up a stick or lump of flint, saw potential within it and created the first tool, or who blew charcoal dust over a hand pressed to a cave wall to leave a shadow we can still see tens of thousands of years later.