Artistic Engineering
For the longest time in my life, I thought that art & engineering were 2 different entities.
Actually, I’ll take it a level further…
I thought the 2 were enemies.
In my world, there was NO way that art & engineering could work together.
Heck, look at the 2!
Look at how different they are. How can they possibly coexist?
At the core of it all, art is about imagination and engineering is about logic.
Am I missing anything?
Well, after years of experience as an engineer, I can tell you that I was wrong.
Art and engineering are not enemies.
They are MEANT to work with each other.
Aka: Artistic Engineering.
When Engineering became Artistic
I remember my first internship was in an aerospace company.
And during my time in this company, I was taking part in a project where we were designing a flight instrument system for pilots.
Well, I was joining the company at the right time. They were just about to begin the project!
I was able to see this product go from an idea all the way to manifesting.
Well, a few years later, I joined a large corporation.
And in this corporation, all the systems were pretty much all designed.
The ‘engineers’ just had to fix shit that broke.
At that time, I hated just fixing stuff and calling myself an engineer.
I just didn’t feel right.
Sort of like John writing a story and sending it to Billy to proofread.
Billy fixes the grammar and now calls himself a storyteller too.
Something doesn’t feel right…
Around that time, I saw the 3 levels of engineering.
- Level 1: Create breakthrough ideas.
- Level 2: Engineer the ideas to come to life.
- Level 3: Maintaining the product.
Often, we are only taught about level 3 engineers.
This group tends to be very logical because there are certain procedures they have to follow.
But level 1 & 2 engineering requires a lot of creativity.
Level 1 is pure artistry when you really think about it.
When Art became Engineering
Around the same time, I became a huge fan of drawing.
I loved drawing portraits of humans and cartoon characters.
Earlier in my drawing journey, I was winging it a lot.
I just saw the images and began.
Well, after my engineering education, I saw art in structures, systems, and components.
So now I applied engineering principles to make it EASIER to create art.
It was time to make art come to life in a structured manner.
I began my project from a high level to a low level process.
Designed the entire system of the face.
Then I filled in the subsystems of the eyes, nose, lips etc.
Finally, I filled in the processes of eyelashes, eyeballs, shadows etc.
It’s as though engineering helped me create art.
Artistic Engineering?
When I saw art played a role in engineering and engineering played a role in art, I had a big breakthrough:
Why not combine both industries?
Hardcore engineers will say it’s not practical.
Was flying a machine in the air considered practical when it was first conceived?
Nah. However, it began with an imaginative idea, which we evolved into a practical invention.
And now we have a plane.
Hardcore artists will say engineers rob beauty.
Once again, does having a few frameworks to amplify your creative process rob the art of its beauty?
No.
Ex: there are a lot of people who create origami via engineering formulas & measurements.
So the 2 aren’t enemies! They are friends.
This is a groundbreaking concept to understand if you are someone who is a content creator, entrepreneur, engineer etc.
How can Artistic Engineering impact your life?
Let’s break it down.
- Artistic: Imaginative
This side is huge because it allows you to lead with imagination.
You start tuning into your ideas and begin taking them more seriously.
Rather than being the person who is just fixing stuff, you are now creating stuff.
The artistic side allows you to spot relationships when most people just see isolated parts.
One of the best ways to spot relationships is to be more introspective about your own past.
See how you can connect lessons from different experiences with one another.
This gets your creative thoughts firing up.
- Engineering: Builder
When you have fresh ideas, now you can find a way to connect it & bring it to life.
‘Well, what if I don’t have an engineering degree?’
You don’t need one.
Engineering is all around you.
Picture cooking for example.
Cooking involves getting isolated parts: Ingredients.
Then you prep the ingredients, do your measurements and combine accordingly.
The ingredients alone mean nothing.
But together, they create a dish.
You can call yourself a chef or an engineer of food.
Funny how that works.
To use this cooking example from the lens of artistic engineering, you will:
- Think of brand new recipe ideas based on all the connections made from your past experiences with cooking.
- You will engineer it into life.
Sounds pretty fun, right?
How Artistic Engineering is a Way of Life
Although we are living in one of the best times in human history, it seems like people are pissed off.
Always whining about something new & complaining.
Why though?
Look at how many opportunities you have around you!!
This is one of the best times to evolve into a creator.
We all have a creator potential in us.
But you need to make sure you see life via a spectrum.
It’s not: am I an engineer or an artist?
It’s more so: How can I strike the right balance between artistry and engineering?
When you think like this, your paradigm shifts as a whole.
You become much more hopeful and ready to tackle big challenges.
The ‘challenges’ soon develop into a new project you can work on.
Leverage Imagination and Logic
You are the creator of your life homie.
Keep leading with your imagination: your vision.
Keep reverse engineering it into your reality.
There are resources all around this planet.
Youtube.
Blogs.
Twitter etc.
All you need to do now is follow your curiosity and connect the dots.
Just like any venture, the dots will not connect at first.
But you need to keep working on it.
Soon, the imaginative dots will begin to take on a life of its own.
Your engineering mind will see the patterns and the possible connections.
You will creatively engineer the dots & eventually create a final product.
That’s how you take control of your narrative.
If this blog helped you, and you want to learn more about creativity & systems think, sign up for my free daily newsletter.
– ArmaniTalks 
