What inspires you?

Lucario

I'm just curious what inspires other people when drawing or painting. Do you have a scrapbook? Look at websites or photos for inspiration? If it's the latter feel free to add some links, I need to get inspired

Dramatik

Inspiration is all around you all the time, you just need the time to notice it, looking at things from different angles can often provide a much more interesting subject matter. Just look at artists you like, seek out new one's if you're bored of your current ones. Go to a book shop or library and have a browse through the art section. Experimenting with different mediums is also a great way to re-ignite your creativity.

Here's something I do when I'm finding it hard to come up with some interesting subject matter.

Pick up a novel and choose a random scene from it and try draw or paint what you imagine the scene to look like in your head, you could take photo's of similar subject matter in real life to reference if you're having trouble getting what's in your head down on the paper. Instead of trying to take a photo of the exact scene in your head why not take pictures of the seperate elements that make up the scene and blend them together. Eg. lets say you're imagining an old man standing outside a cottage on a hill, break the picture up into parts, find a photo of a nice hilly landscape, then find a picture of a nice cottage similar to what you're imagining and finally an image of an old man. Try make the picture as interesting as possible, the novel will help you out here, did it say the man was happy? was he sad? ect. Try to include as much detail in the picture as in the novel. You don't have to stick to what's written in the novel maybe there's a space in the picture where there's not much going on, does the old man look like he might be a farmer, why not add a tractor in there, maybe some animals. Just try and put yourself in the mind of someone else viewing your art. What would they find interesting? If you wanted to be more abstract you could do the opposite, place things in it that you wouldn't normaly see together. Art is anything you want it to be.

The key is not to get bogged down trying to think of something clever to do, just get something started and that'll help you get into the creative mindset and the ideas will start flowing. Have faith in yourself and be confident that you can get those ideas from your mind onto the page and if somethings not working for you, know that with a few more hours extra work you can shape it into something, don't just give up at the first hurdle because it's not looking exactly they way you imagined it. Every bit of art I do there are multiple points where I feel like giving up, know that in yourself you have the determination and skill to work through these times and you'll surprise yourself. Hope this helps

Lucario

Thanks for that, really helpful I quite like the novel thing as there are about a million different scenes in a good book :pac:

Dramatik

Lucario wrote: »

Thanks for that, really helpful I quite like the novel thing as there are about a million different scenes in a good book :pac:

That's the great thing about it, there's literally an unlimited amount of ideas in just one book to help you get your creative side going. Glad it helped you

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

I alwasys thumb through old sketchpads when I'm stuck. Especially the ones I used when I was working in call centers or when i was bored. I've had loads of quick doddles turn into full ideas and finished pieces years later when I look at them in a different frame of mind.

AlizeHall

Lucario wrote: »

I'm just curious what inspires other people when drawing or painting. Do you have a scrapbook? Look at websites or photos for inspiration? If it's the latter feel free to add some links, I need to get inspired

We are all born an artist. I'm pretty sure you have that talent as well. As for me, I just try to imagine happy memories, or laughters I did with some special people in my life, and that's it, I get inspired though it's not that professionally made, I still feel the satisfaction and contentment right after it.

Avatarr

It's funny, but I can't quite put my finger on what inspires me (I sculpt stone). What I can say is, I get the sort joy from creating a form from a block of stone that is like a natural high. I constantly need the fix, I frequently go to sleep thinking about sculpting(normally when I am stuck on a tricky feature). I like everybody else have the bad day, where nothing seems to go right, but there is always that one day/moment where it all makes sense, you step back, have a look and just get a level of satisfaction that is of the scale.

AlizeHall

Avatarr wrote: »

It's funny, but I can't quite put my finger on what inspires me (I sculpt stone). What I can say is, I get the sort joy from creating a form from a block of stone that is like a natural high. I constantly need the fix, I frequently go to sleep thinking about sculpting(normally when I am stuck on a tricky feature). I like everybody else have the bad day, where nothing seems to go right, but there is always that one day/moment where it all makes sense, you step back, have a look and just get a level of satisfaction that is of the scale.

I agree with you Avatarr. I think it's very important that you find the contentment and happiness in something that you do. If you're happy with it, you'll surely get the inspiration you need.