What are our dreams? Where do they come from? These are questions that most of us will ask at some point in our lives. Here at the DreamAnvil we believe that the answer is that our dreams are a continuous wheel. A circle of creativity that only ends when the dreamer stops dreaming. It is our logo, it is my own creative process and I think it works pretty well. I call it the Creative Loop. I would like to try to answer those first two questions “What are our dreams,” and “Where do they come from,” at the same time. I believe they are one and the same.
Before we can talk about this though we all need to be on the same page first. The Creative Loop is a process that is roughly divided into four phases, each one blends into the next and a project can move freely between phases as it needs. Creativity is messy and wild, and the Loop is flexible enough to allow for setbacks and restarts.
Phase 1: Inception.
It starts like everything else does. With an idea. The spark that sets the whole thing in motion. You get an idea of what you want to accomplish. You establish goals for the project (whether you realize it or not) and you gather information about others who have gone down similar paths before. Inception can last a few ecstatic minutes or for long plodding months. It is what becomes the core of the dream. The foundation upon what comes next.
Phase 2: Structure
After you know what you are going to do it’s time to start planning. Yes you heard me, planning. Some of us like to write out every little detail, an entire book outline of each chapter, or a detailed sketch. Some of us like to hit the ground running, pen in hand and a blank canvas ahead. Others like something in between. All of these artists, musicians, writers and dreamers start with a goal in mind. Usually they have some idea of how they aim to get there. That path forward, that idea of how to see this through, that is the structure. It is what holds everything together.
Phase 3: Construction
What naturally follows after we give the dream a bit of structure is Construction. I will admit we focus a lot on construction at the DreamAnvil. There is no shortage of dreams in this world that simply go nowhere, why? Because sometimes people like to talk about what they are going to achieve more than they want to actually go out and achieve them (I think Henry Ford said something similar). The only person who can make your dream a reality is you. Yes, you may need a team of awesome people to help out, but the real work comes from the dreamer as they drag their dreams into our reality. In this phase we cart the dense, raw material of our dreams into our world, and for the first time we know its true shape and weight.
Phase 4: Follow through
The heavy lifting of the Construction phase is about progress, it’s about getting stuff done. Words fill chapters, paint fills the void, but it is not yet complete. As our dreams exit the third stage I like to think of them as photos that are slightly out of focus. The fourth stage is about getting the details right, making sure the focus on that photo is razor sharp. We refine, and polish, and improve, hoping to get everything just right; trying to match the dream in our hands with the ethereal idea we had when we first began.
All of this then loops into the first stage, the beginning of a new dream, a new adventure. At the end of one project the dreamer often finds herself where it all begin, with a new dream in hand and a new destination in mind. The dreamer is capable of birthing new ideas and dreams at any point along this wheel. Then we do it again.