Just start — before you know all the rules

Don’t wait until you’re “ready.” Make a sketch. Hit record on a song idea. Kids and families who finish one small thing learn faster than kids who wait for perfect conditions. That is the whole idea: just start.

Not knowing the rules can be an advantage

Filmmaker Orson Welles, talking about making Citizen Kane (and retelling the story in interviews including with Dick Cavett), described how the technical “bag of movies” can be learned quickly — roughly a day and a half if you ask someone who knows — and that it isn’t much harder than home movies once the mystery is gone. Cinematographer Gregg Toland wanted to work with Welles in part because Welles had never made a picture and didn’t know what “cannot be done.” Not knowing fake limits can free you to try.

Paraphrased from Welles’s own retellings (including the Dick Cavett Show interview) about Citizen Kane and working with Toland. Astryks is not affiliated with the Welles estate. We’re not a film school — this is encouragement to begin creative work without waiting for permission.

Study what you love — then make your own

Quentin Tarantino has long cited Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (and spaghetti westerns) as formative inspiration. Loving and studying other people’s work is how many artists begin — then they find their own voice. That is influence and practice, not passing off someone else’s finished piece as yours to sell. Same spirit as learning by copying masters (including traditions like The Met’s copyist programs).

Make art. Make a song. Don’t wait.

On Astryks, kids learn real art and music skills and can post what they make. See also everyone should make music and inspiration can strike anywhere. You don’t need to know every rule first. Start before you’re sure.