THE 16 CREATIVE ARCHETYPES, DECODED
And their assorted memes.
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The four SPACIES Scales spit out 16 potential creative archetypes. (If you haven't already taken the quiz, this would be a good time. Let's pause!)
And we're back! Alright, you know your Creative Archetype. While you warm up to your avatar, your artistic character, your creative mascot, how about a tour through the archetypes that might have been?
The ritual of taking a personality quiz is not complete unless I've compared myself to all the other potential outcomes I could've received. Yung JPeezy Sartre spit absolute bars on the concept that we're defined by what we are *not*, and I like to think that seeing where I fall on a spectrum helps me contextualize my results.
Plus, it's fun to try and guess what your friends, exes, siblings, and arch nemeses might be.
Let's get into the 16 Creative Archetypes.
The Architect
You see things for what they truly are and think about them deeply.
You were voted most likely to wake up at 5am to work for two hours before work.
In a flow state, you can be like Joan Didion, prolific and insightful. You like your creativity structured, not stirred. On the other hand, your dark side can be rigid and a leetle 🤏 bitchy (or a lot!).
If you find yourself with tunnel vision, unable to pull back to edit or see the bigger picture, that is a sign you might be stuck.
The Author
“I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”
Replace “write” with “create” and you’ve got your mantra, Author-friend.
You might _actually_ be a writer, but no need to be so on-the-nose with this archetype — it’s more a general vibe.
You seek truth in the world, but you need time alone to figure out how to translate what you innately know into something tangible to share with the world.
Your patron saint is the genius Zadie Smith — a public mystery, an infinite well of wisdom, a diver willing to swim to the deepest depths to find the treasure at the bottom of the sea.
At your best, you help others articulate their human experience.
You sometimes you struggle to stay on your path, easily distracted by flashy novelty, am-I-good-enough anxiety, or envy of your contemporaries.
The Channel
Not to freak you out, but you’re basically a direct line to the Special World.
Pulling wisdom from the unconscious, the collective, the spirit world and translating it for the masses… it ain’t for the weak.
But you’re up to the task, just like your creative patron saint, Hayao Miyazaki. A prolific animator, filmmaker, and storyteller, Miyazaki reminds us it can be fun to transform big esoteric ideas into art that reaches millions.
At your best, you imagine new ways of doing just about everything.
You sometimes struggle to communicate what you know innately. Keep honing your craft, and practicing your skills, which is just as important as maintaining your connection to Muse/Spirit/God/Universe/The Subconscious.
The Creatrix
You call it how you see it, Creatrix. You’re here to witness the wonders and horrors of world and make SOMETHING out of your experiences.
You demand others pay attention, by making it easier for them to focus their eye on the horizon.
Like your creative patron saint, Jenny Holzer, you transplant ideas into the minds of the public. Holzer reminds us that art, words, and ideas don’t have to be “beautiful” to be powerful.
At your best, you bring together disparate ingredients — a rogue word, a public space, the freedom of a bird in flight, the taste of irony — and make meaning for others.
You sometimes struggle to publish things into the world. You can live in Idea Land forever.
The Dancer
The universe is ever-expanding and so are you. You are the water and the mill AND the ore, always producing.
Your creative patron saint is Trisha Brown (duh!) — a revolutionary post-modern dancer with a penchant for pushing boundaries and a preference for ignoring rules.
At your best, you are inventing and reinventing the creative wheel of your choice. You produce prolifically.
In shadow, you become too particular, too in the weeds, you can lose the ability to pivot and, more importantly, the ability to goof off.
If you find that yourself replacing the old rules with new even more rigid ones that is when we are here to help!
The Engineer
Engineer, my big brained friend!
You are a metaphysical boy scout, the epitome of “be prepared.” You can hop from this realm to the next with a backpack full of always-good supplies. You hop from idea to idea with the ability to grow each one into a full-fledged Piece of Art.
Your creative patron saint is Octavia E. Butler — author and universe-builder extraordinaire. Your ability to thread the needle between big picture and tiny detail should be studied in a lab.
At your best, you build elaborate empires that immerse your patrons so deeply, they join a discord to talk about it. People create Theories about your work.
At your worst, you lose sight of your purpose, getting stuck on which realm to explore, which idea to grow.
When you feel like you’ve lost your way in the creative woods, that’s where we come in.
The Innovator
Not your average genius. Mensa? Nah. Dearest Innovator, you’re here to disrupt… you’re not interested in being a card-carrying member of any club because YOU are unlike anyone else.
Your unique blend of problem-solving savvy and risk-taking creativity helps you see new worlds and solutions that others simply can’t imagine.
Just like your creative patron saint, Prince, you defy expectations with style and aplomb. You’re decades ahead of the popular culture (challenging gender and identity norms as the artist FKA Prince, anyone??), and you move so fast that sometimes people can’t keep up.
At your best, you see doorways where others see dead ends.
You sometimes struggle with patience when people question your ideas — you don’t get why they can’t see what you see. Your frustration is a fast track to getting stuck or falling out of flow state.
The Inventor
You’re the Hanged Man of the Tarot. You just see the world differently than other people, for better or worse.
And thankfully, you’re always trying to make it better.
You create new futures with your hands. You build new worlds from your thoughts.
Your patron saint is the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, a prolific creator who melds together tradition, culture, modernity, whimsy, ambition, and polish.
At your best, you explode with ideas for marrying disparate concepts to create something brand new.
You sometimes struggle to birth your ideas into the world because of your wicked perfectionism and self-conscious self-censorship.
The Magician
You mind is a bridge, a portal, and a universe filled with realms, worlds ranging from similar to ours (except we all worship Moth Man), to high fantasy with dragons and earth-shattering magic, to abstract shapes floating alone in space.
Your patron saint is the often weird, often talented visionary David Lynch. No one ever really understands what you are up to. Just sees the illusion of what you’ve created.
Your creativity is Everything Everywhere All At Once, traipsing through mediums and genres, knowing no bounds.
But being boundless can also lead to getting lost. Your ideas might overcome you, causing you to drift out into an unknowable sea.
When you find yourself unable to express yourself, stuck in spiral of all of the Ideas, all at once, that’s where we come into help.
The Producer
Your cool demeanor and varied interests makes it seem, on the surface, that the art you make is more casual, more vibe-y. You come across as the aloof art student with a nose ring, years before nose rings became cool.
Peek under the hood though, and you find an English teacher’s favorite student: color-coded notes and thoughtful commentary on The Crucible.
The art you make is actually very Thought Out and you Try Very Hard.
Your creative patron saint is thee Greta Gerwig — the deeply smart yet still somehow relatable auteur.
When you’re on, your gorg brain is creating poignant works. You know how to get to the heart of the matter and the exact amount of detail needed to make it happen (think the Closer to Fine scene in Barbie or Timmy C’s delivery of the words “hella tight” in Lady Bird).
When you’re off, you are wayyyy too close to the pointilist painting, my friend. You get lost in the finer details and suddenly you’ve spent 10 hours working on a friendship bracelet prop instead of, ya know, editing the script.
The Quicksilver
You’re a walking dichotomy wrapped in a cloak of mystery.
Sometimes, you don’t even know what you’re saying, doing, or making — you just let your subconscious lead. And man, are the results fantastic.
You’re basically a living breathing channel, catalyzed by everything that comes into your orbit.
Take a cue from your creative field guide, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Let yourself quickly flit from project to project, idea to idea. The minute you stop and question yourself (or judge your pace) your inspiration dries up. Trust in the dignity of your timing. When you do, magic happens.
At your best, you’re a virtuosic whirlwind of creative potential.
You sometime struggle to trust your own process. Don’t look back, and don’t second guess. If you do, you’ll get whiplash.
The Reflector
My my my Reflector! Oh how your inspiration garden grows!
Your metaphysical tree trunk? Rooted.
Your life? Filled with art, trinkets, and surprises.
You see things for what and why they are and what they say about us.
You were voted most likely to write a play based on a painting that is based on a poem.
In a flow state, you can be like Marina Abramovic, meaningful and profound. You like your creativity spontaneous and space well-decorated.
On the other hand, your dark side can be esoteric and pretentious. You can get lost in your Work and forget to be amongst the living.
If you find yourself feeling misunderstood, lost in the sauce, or like Persephone the half of the year she spends in hell, that is a sign you might be **stuck**.
The Shapeshifter
Your essence is to evolve.
Shifting, changing, twisting, transforming — you’re part phoenix, always reinventing yourself, part ouroborous, the never ending-never beginning snake.
Like your patron saint, Lady Gaga, you understand the dichotomy of the Shapeshifter; you’re relatable to all, yet somehow unknowable.
It makes you an incredible artist (damn, do you have the ability to empathize with others, ouchie it hurts!), because at your best you’re a witness to the human experience.
You might keep your own vulnerabilities at a distance, shying away from your own emotions by taking on the fee fees of the people around you. That’s a surefire way to clog up your inspiration pipeline…
The Star
Oh, sweet angel. Our sensitive, deliberate, and decidedly genius Star.
When people think of the most creative person they know, it’s you.
Intuition and your ability to pay close attention to the energies that swirl around you are impossible to unwrap from your process.
For you, making work is a spiritual practice.
Like your creative patron saint, Bjork, you innately understand the work is the Work. You could take or leave the accolades (but you’re such a prolific genius, you’re bound to be acknowledged for your work at some point in your life)
At your best, everything you do becomes an experimental performance art piece.
You sometimes struggle with allowing other people to witness your work and your process. And your tendency towards perfectionism can keep you stuck in trying to solve a problem for longer than might be ultimately beneficial. Learn to pick your battles. Remember — we learn how to be more human by seeing ourselves reflected in you. Consider sharing your work with the world altruistic mutual aid.
The Trailblazer
Trailblazer, you fiery minx.
You're rooted, booted, and filled to the brim with daring possibilities.
Your rocket-powered imagination helps you see things for the multitudes that they are and could be.
You were voted most likely to have an HBO dramedy based on your life.
In a flow state, you can be like Janelle Monae, a tastemaker and chaotic good genius. You like your creativity spontaneous and your rabbit holes deep.
On the other hand, your dark side can be too frenetic and hard to pin down. It’s giving Willy Wonka (1971) scaring children in the tunnel.
If you find yourself feeling spinning out lost, in the sauce, or getting distracted from your Work, that is a sign you might be stuck.
ASSORTED ARCHETYPE IMAGERY
We know these images belong to ~some~ archetype, but which? ID’em for us.
