Using Tech to Flex Your Creativity
It’s good to keep busy while staying at home and keeping safe from the global health crisis. That being said, you also need to save a bit of time to invest in yourself and hone your creativity. Painting and sketches are great ways to keep your hands busy and mind sharp, but there are lots of other digital projects you can also pick up to get those creative juices flowing.
The beauty of using tech to flex your creativity is that you aren’t beholden to the tools you have on you. There are definitely tools that you can invest in to make your digital projects even better, but you can do wonders with just a few apps on your desktop. Keep reading below for a few fun projects you can start doing using technology.
Play around with coding
Coding is an extremely important skill in today’s highly digital world, but many are scared off by how complex it looks. As with any new skill, learning how to code can be difficult at first – but it’s certainly not impossible. Using HTML and CSS to make simple web pages is a fun project that allows you to pick up a new skill while also letting you design it to your heart’s content. You can begin by sketching out what you want the page to look like on paper. Having this template to follow makes it easier for you to look around for the types of commands you want to use, whether it’s making a text bold during a cursor hover or embedding an image.
Learn how to DJ
The best DJs today are those who started fiddling with their own computers at home, no fancy training necessary. Even if you don’t have instruments at home, there are lots of simulators you can download to get started. From there, investing in the right audio equipment alongside your computer’s setup can help you be more adventurous when it comes to mixing and sampling tracks. For those who are looking for a place to start, even playing around with noise levels or deepening a track’s bass line can make a huge difference. Making these small adjustments can help you start to hone your signature sound. This is a great way to use tech to help you stretch your musical creativity.
Make digital art
No canvas, no problem: you can easily make your own works of art with nothing but your laptop! You don’t need a tablet and stylus to make art, either. Some home-grown artists have turned to Microsoft Paint as their preferred medium, proving that even the most basic software can garner huge results. Software such as GIMP or Paint.NET can easily substitute Photoshop, but you can also be a little more creative and try making posters using your built-in presentation software! In fact, constraining yourself to the simplest tools may lead to the most surprising results.
Get started with video editing
If you’re a fan of the latest movies and TV shows, why not try your own hand at video editing? A classic assignment is to re-edit a movie trailer into a completely different genre: think The Silence of the Lambs turned into a romantic comedy, or Finding Nemo turned into a suspense thriller. This project seems simple enough in theory. In practice, it allows you to utilize all parts of your video editing software, from sound effects to transitions. As always, you can start with the free video editing software that comes with your computer.
It goes without saying that there are tons of online classes and resources dedicated to each of these projects. However, there’s nothing stopping you from just trying them out for yourself. You might be one click away from your next masterpiece!