Picture this: you’re an artist and you want to make something truly unique and different that nobody else has seen before. You start thinking about some ideas but it all seems like it’s been done before. You thought of the idea of making a 2D video game about a red plumber jumping on mushrooms, but that was made over 40 years ago! You come up with another idea of a sci-fi movie about an evil dark empire that holds a super weapon space station that destroys planets in one blow. But that’s also been done.So what do other artists do when they encounter this problem?
The many talented artists of Skyline have many different ways to deal with this problem. For instance, Seth Davinport (‘29), a music producer here at Skyline, says, “I reuse samples and then I make it better.”
Davinport’s sampling strategy is really important because you don’t need to make something new and unique when you’re making art as long as you’re happy. Though Davinport also has ways he makes his songs unique. “If I wanna use a sample from a song and I wanna be different. Then I like to switch out the drums and switch the melody a bit to make it sound different.”
You could also try changing your perspective on how you see the world. For instance, let’s say you’re a photographer and you’re trying to take a picture, you take a picture of a building and move on. But there’s so much more you could do to that photo, like what if you take the photo upside down, or you tilt the camera so the photo is slightly uneven. As humans, we tend to pay less attention to the details of the world we live in. If you just take a second and look around, you would be surprised by how much stuff you’ve never noticed before.
Kevin Zheng (‘29), a video game programmer, believes that “Uniqueness isn’t the problem, it’s more just the idea isn’t fun. My suggestion is to take your own approach and see what’s right for you.”
You don’t need to make your art different from other artists. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters. We focus too much on what other people think when we really should be focusing on what we think. But what we don’t realize is that how we think and what we like about our pieces is what makes it your style. There might be people who don’t like your work but what you think of it is what matters. 2D artist Kaylee Starcher (‘29) says, “Just add your own flare to it. Everyone makes stuff differently, so it’s not going to be the same anyways.”
Starcher also says “Sometimes I’ll just burn myself out and lose all motivation, but doing something else for a while helps.” So don’t stress over it and take your time. Remember to have fun, try new things, and be yourself when you’re making your art.
