Collaboration
If there's one thing I'm learning, it's that collaboration has a lot more to do with trust than it does compatability.
Over the years there have been a lot of offers that came my way, and the argument could be made that I could have endured and forced it to the end. The reality of it was the the product, in most of those cases, became impossible to produce when the creative trust wasn't there. It's impossible to force an artist to an extrinsic vision any more than it is possible to swap one consciousness for another. Acting is possible, certainly, but it's temporary and the most convincing performances are always the sincere ones.
So how does collaboration work?
I've noticed that it doesn't really begin until all parties yield. Not a surrender, more of an awe for the other's insight, skill and competence. A deliberate pursuit of the other's vision such that the minds circle each other, linked by joining visions, in an accelerating chase, a twisting progression, spiraling ladder, or a helix. When the hybrid blends all traits thoroughly, one may not even be able to isolate which contributions came from which party.
You can trust one another's character, values and monetary approach, all of which certainly help, but the visions won't merge unless the trust is creative too. This project would not have happened if I had not worked with someone whose insight, skills and competence I trusted, and in more ways than one: someone simply better than me.
This is the bombshell project in collaboration with Digital Sculptor Adam Ross, Idolworkshop.com