Six surprising ways to challenge yourself creatively from home | Creative Boom

Photo: Paul Vincent

Paul Vincent, has worked at the OCA since 2004 writes, "So you've decided to become more creative. Congratulations. Now where do you start? Obviously, you could try the "Batman/Bruce Wayne" route, in which you disappear from your everyday life, scale a remote mountain and learn mystical arts for years before returning home a changed person."

Photo: Creative Boom

But, quite frankly, you're still halfway through a broadband contract you can't cancel, and you promised Jim you'd be at his wedding in April. So how do you go about doing it without the dramatic gestures?...

2. Do a course 
University might seem like a pretty large commitment for many, but there are several distance learning courses that allow students to get feedback, interact with fellow learners, and push themselves without giving up their jobs.

A distance learning course can be much more affordable than full-time study. Many offer the opportunity to work in your own time, but still ask you to take the course seriously – which means you've got to make time to study and practice. If you're the sort of person that finds themselves pushing their creative ambitions further and further down their to-do list, this could give you the extra push to get going. It's also a great opportunity to get one-to-one time with expert tutors, and meet people with similar interests.

The Open College of the Arts, for example, offers a range of creative courses in subjects such as creative writing, drawing, graphic design, photography, music, painting and sculpture.

The Open College of the Arts offers distance-learning courses in subjects such as fine art, photography, music, graphic design, creative writing, sculpture and film. It is part of the University for the Creative Arts. 
To find out more, go to www.oca.ac.uk.
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Source: Creative Boom (blog)