Ryan recently posted on his blog about working and creativity, and while reading it I got thinking. How does working a non creative job affects my creativity? How does working a creative job affect my out of “office” creativity?

I think that for me the difference between the two types of work can be huge and horrible, and depending on the specifics of each one very traumatic. I find that in my experience when I work in say and office or cafe, I end up feeling physically drained and tired. This makes it very hard at times to be creative on your down time because you just don’t have the energy. Although I think in someways this is the better of the two.

When I have a creative job, especially when it is something very limiting or specific, like say designing for a big label. What happens to me atleast during this is I find that a lot of my creativity get zapped up in the job. The career that may seem like the more preferable of the two become like a sponge sucking up all of my mind juice. At the end of the week I not only feel completely drained of all my energy but also my emotion. For months after leaving that kind of a job I can end up not doing anything more creative then whistling.

I think the Ideal situation is to be freelance and doing the art as you feel like it, selling finished objects as they are completed. The hard part of that is the money in between then.