Making Art at a Distance

I love what I get paid to do. At the office, I get to work closely with people, as part of a team, to build something together. We’re interdependent, because none of us can build the product alone, so we have to trust each other. We can’t just each build our separate piece and hope they fit together at the end. We have to communicate and collaborate on a daily basis in order to succeed. I love working to make this environment even better for what we need to do, and I love that I have to do that with other people. What I’m doing in my job right now is making me a better person.

I also love making art with people. As creative as what we build at work is, it’s not the same as a making a book, a game, a podcast, a YouTube video, a movie. I can’t point to our software and say, “Look at this art that we made.” It may be true, but it’s not as true as it is for other things. And as much as a love things like improv and roleplaying, creative activities whose products are ultimately ephemeral, I still occasionally feel the need to be left with something tangible that we made.

I want to find a way to unite these two loves. Most the people who I have made art with or want to make art with don’t live anywhere near me.¹ And what I love about work is that the collaborative process is happening in real time. There’s just so much lost when that immediacy goes away.

How about you? How do you make art with people don’t see on a daily basis? How do you keep the collaboration going?

¹ Not mention that I can’t afford to do them full time.