The Artistic Process: Dave the Dead style

I was reading the post by Grim over at Grimvisions this morning about his artistic process and it prompted me to think about my own style. Grim stated this about his artwork:

"I have always felt that my artwork unfolds in almost an accidental way. That it is the culmination of many unplanned acts that fortunately work together in the end."

In many ways, I feel the same about the way I work. I use a very loose ""stream of consciousness" type of style when I sculpt and create. Many times I only have the vaguest idea of what I intend to create, but use the style to discover what has been gnawing at my mind. It is akin to waking from a dream and remembering only bits and pieces. As I work on a piece, the details become clear as the piece starts to unfold. I may start with a basic form or concept, and the creative process flows my idea into something completely different.

As a child, I used to play a game where my Mom would scribble a few small random lines on a piece of paper. It was my job to take those lines and turn them into a drawing. It is similar to gazing at clouds in the sky and letting your imagination flow freely until you can see the random shapes turn into objects. I have never been much for drawing or painting, as I find it difficult to convey my ideas in a two dimensional fashion. I have adapted the 'scribble game' to my creative process. I feel that this lends a very dreamlike surreal quality to my artwork that would be difficult for me to achieve if I adopted a more structured artistic process.

In the end, it all comes down to using what works best for you. It is great to explore many different methods until you find one ( or more than one) that you are comfortable with.