Two approaches to art that complete each other and fit my way of creating stuff. The first one is about total art, which is basically art that makes use of the entire spectrum of creative means. For instance a concert where the scenography completes the musical experience, a movie, a graphic book that combines a lot of techniques, a zine or even a website. It can be argued wheither each of these really fit the total definition. It boils down to intent.
I don't claim that every big project I work on is an instance of total art, it's more about totality being a spectrum.
Minimalism is roughly about developing an idea in one go.
Combining both, art begins with several related ideas merged together in a raw, organic way.
For instance, two movie scenes can emerge from two independent ideas and still be sequenced to produce something of interest. Two voices of music can superimpose without necessarily having been composed note-by-note to complement each other. Final result isn't the fruit of hasard, it is simply the result of the combination of two ideas, no more no less. You still have to question your own intent. In constrast, it is not required that two ideas be autonomous.
Creative work should be raw. The whole point for me is to avoid overthinking. Of course these aren't absolutes, the goal remains immersion on both sides.
There is one particular pitfall you must avoid at all cost. You remember that girl from high school ? The one with the notebook, always drawing, writing stuff in it etc. Her idea was to express herself because for some reason she needed that, and that’s exactly what you should do. She asked questions, got answers, moved on. Don’t focus too much on technique but start digging under that fog which hides your feelings. You don’t want to spend four years “trying to learn to draw” just to have nothing to show to yourself at the end. (This also applies to music.)
I ended up developing a “Chase me and I flee” relationship with my own art.
Instead of wondering how an eye is supposed to be drawn, you could roleplay a situation where you don’t know the answer but still have to draw an eye.