Response to Marek Krawczyk: Dead in the Water

Marek asked, What's an instance of an art where the author or creator takes all the credit?

While Marek brought up a good point in his blog--that there are many forms of art that require collaboration and a distribution of credit--there are still many instances where there is one sole contributor of creative ideas, talents, skills, etc. Some artists work with others to complete a project, yes, and there are some art forms that simply cannot be completed without multiple people coming together to create the final project (for example, the majority of movies and theatrical performances). However, there are several artists in the world who choose to work alone.

I believe literary authors to be the best example of artists who take all the credit for their work. I exclude non-fiction from this group, as non-fiction works are often written by more than one author and I do not believe writing non-fiction is an art anyway; it is simply a retelling of facts. Many fiction writers and poets, however, compose books upon books of their own work without help from others.

Another example of artists who deserve all the credit for their work are those musicians who write, sing, and play their own music. While this is certainly a diminishing group of people in this day and age (thanks to technology and other factors that enable people of lesser talent to receive equal praise and adoration), there are definitely still people who can accomplish this feat. Chase Coy, for example, writes his own songs, sings his own lyrics, accompanies himself on the guitar, and--at 17 years of age--one was of the biggest self-produced artists on the rise. I would definitely say that he deserves all the credit for his work and then some, and there are plenty of other music artists like him in the world.

My question in response is this: Do you think it takes more effort to collaborate on a project with other artists, or to work individually to create something? Why?