Filed under: creative process
According to the esteemed Myers-Briggs I am INTJ, aka Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging. I took the actual test as part of psych course in college, and every now and then I take a watered down version online. INTJ every time. Woo I have a personality type that afflicts only 1-2% of the population. I spent a part of my day re-learning about my personality type. While I felt what was being said about being an INTJ made sense, I also realized that I am an anomaly as an INTJ artist. Then again there is the stereotype that artists are free-spirited emotional flakes—which is not true. Regardless, all career paths for INTJs tend to point to hard sciences.
As far as my artwork process goes, I am very much in line with the INTJ type. I prefer to work independently, and I like taking a long time to just THINK. My favorite part of the art process is always the planning, never the execution. INTJs are big systems people—which is a reoccurring theme in my work. I hate fussing over the small stuff and prefer to think about the larger concept at hand.
INTJs are also considered to be very emotionally hard-lined, blunt and direct. Something people might consider to be at odds with artistic leanings. I have mixed feelings about this. I feel very emotionally invested in my work. But I would say that overall my work is not necessarily about my deep dark squishy feelings. Concepts that I find interesting trump emotions every time.
I was chatting with a friend of mine about crushes and fickle hearts and how that affects the creative process. Here is a snippet (with identifying names and details changed to protect the innocent):
FRIEND: Someday I’ll meet another alluring Brazilian from Queens with who likes my writing and I will never think of him again
ME: See I find that so perverse–how the heart can just change like that. Like i am sooo over Boy X for the most part and now really into Boy Y. Had you told me this 3 mos ago I would have never believed it. Or even want to believe it.
FRIEND: Yeah, I know what you mean, it is crazy. Although, I was writing this script with a friend and we were reading about the brain chemistry of love and when you’re in that infatuation stage, you have the same brain chemistry as people with OCD.
ME: That makes a lot of sense.
FRIEND: Which knowing how crazy I get when I’m in that stage, I really do think it’s a miracle that people with OCD get anything done ever.
When you’re with someone you’ve been with for a long time, the brain chemistry that gets released actually calms you down — it becomes the same as being at home
ME: I know. This will sound weird, but I know there is a part of me that just wants to rush to the boring stable relationship part just so I can concentrate again. I mean my years with my ex were very productive.
FRIEND: Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s like this thing you don’t have to worry about, but that can become dangerous too.
