[scottdw2]

Sigh. Not about the original article, but about the top comment in the original article.

It presumes that Picaso, Bansky, and Monet can't paint like each other.

Probably not true if you actually have Picaso, Bansky and Monet.

In any case, style guides are for hacks, not artists.

[twic]

I facepalmed at "Imagine if when Picasso was learning to paint, we told him what style he should paint in. Would we have cubism?". The answer is not only yes, but yes, and that is exactly what happened.

This is the style Picasso was told to paint in when he was learning to paint:

http://mesosyn.com/pp-early.html

It was only after he had mastered this conventional style of painting that he went on to discover cubism.

[gingerlime]

I would actually take the "blue period" example as Picaso's own styleguide. By forcing constraints on himself (like a much reduce palette), he got much more creativity out.

"When Picasso purged color from his work, he did so to emphasize the formal autonomy of the picture plane and focus on problems of form." [1]

Styleguides don't hinder creativity. They help it shine. It simply a set of constraints that help guide you through the creative process. Same as convention-over-configuration. Yes, you are forced to put certain files in a certain folders, but that just saves you time, it does nothing to stop you from being creative.

[1]http://galleristny.com/2012/10/from-brush-and-palette-to-pri...

[scottdw2]

I won't argue that constraints can lead to innovation. All art exists in some medium. Constraints are therefore inherit.

Here's a simple question: what spurred Picaso's decision to paint in Blue? Was it adherence to a protocol describing blue as the answer to his expressive woes, or was it his own internal experimentation with the color blue?

Did Picaso paint in blue because he felt like Blue, or because someone said "any work 'submitted' to this gallery must be blue"?