How do you get your inspiration?

[Call Me Stephanie]

We're all artists here. But sometimes artists get into a "block". It's never really happened to be before but I'm sure it will now that I'm getting serious about my art.

When I don't know what to draw or am having no ideas I usually just sit it out. I wait until something random just fires in my head and my brain comes up with something. Yet at times I can't rely on that if I have a commission. Those times, I browse DA until something sparks.

So, discuss, what do you do for inspiration?  

[Errol McGillivray]

It depends on what I want to do. Mostly, I keep looking at works by other artists. I spend time at Conceptart, ImagineFX, and other gallery/communities. I also play games. Reading gives you no end of inspiration. Writing helps too.

Sometimes, it depends on subject matter. I like scary art, so I watch scary movies and make note on visual effects (not special effects, but the overall visual direction). I watch a lot of cartoons. (I'm a cartoonist.)

Inspiration is all around. Sometimes, though, you're tired or just tense. If you can't turn that into something on paper, then try and relax. (It's a good idea to doodle when you don't feel like you can do anything. Even scribbles. Doodles can become something more later when you refer to them looking for inspiration. Doing studies can give the same results.

Sometimes, it pays to just go "relax" someplace private and quiet. That helps me a LOT when I have too much on my mind to be productive.  

[Call Me Stephanie]

Awesome ideas! Thanks for sharing with us. ^_^

 

[Tchick]

Daft as it may sound I am quite a vivid dreamer, and quite often have weird or bizarre dreams that I can often conjure ideas from. However, I sometimes lose my 'drawing swing' as I call it, the sort of motivation and desire to continue drawing, when this happens I try to relax and wait until something comes to me.

However, if I really need to get a piece of art done I'll just scribble for a while, get in a huff. . . Then put the doodle pad away and grab a cup of tea (once I even tried deep breathing... A sort of meditation/relaxation technique.) After drinking said cup of tea I whack the doodle pad back out, make my peace with it and try again. I repeat this process a few times and if theres STILL nothing I'll wait a couple of days before trying again.

For me, sometimes I'm just simply NOT in the artsy mood. It's annoying, but sometimes that side of your brain can go into overdrive and shut down, whilst the logical side of your brain yells at it to work. xD Pretty funny if you think about it...

I talk WAY too much. XD whee  

[Call Me Stephanie]

Wow, what a great idea.

I hope it's non-caffeinated tea though... like chamomile or something relaxing like that.

You don't talk too much. We need talkers here!

It's lonely emo

 

[Esper The Phantom Beast]

When I'm really hurting for inspiration I'll play game sound tracks and stuff like that and let my mind wander or depending on what mood I'm in I'll just listen to my regular collection of every genre of rock (emo, punk, grunge, nu metal, J-rock, more emo, and any other good rock I can find.) I'll also play video games, surf the web for art, write, study objects for a long time and try to see how i could turn it into something else or try to imagine a real world thing in a different style razz and sometimes I kind of just meditate omg I'm a weirdo lol like some kinda wannabe emo monk.  

[KotokoPlum]

I really started drawing because of manga/anime, which sounds kinda stupid, but it's true. So rereading my favorite mangas (Fruits Basket, Tsubasa, DNAngel) will get me in the mood to draw.

Hayazaki movies are always pretty inspirational, too. d:

Rereading books that make me think or laugh or are just new can spark new ideas. (For me, Catch-22, White Noise, and The Good Earth come to mind.) I sometimes just browse dA photos, DD's, etc. @ 3@

Loooong breaks (especially if they're forced) from art make me itch to get back to drawing. I haven't drawn a full illustration in weeks. DDD: I barely know what to do with myself! (It's kinda bad, I sneakdoodle. -ninjer- But I have a long weekend, so yay! xDD)

I guess everything in moderation, tho.

My inspiration is kinda... mundane. x____x;; Ah, well...  

[Call Me Stephanie]

Cool ideas. Gotta try some of those.

Thanks for sharing! ^_^  

[Yuri Mono]

Music.

Or just random made up stories in my head that i've created for my OC's. I think of their personality, and it just kinda comes out.

I'm also quite depressed all the time. Not emo...just...a life hater. stare

So a lot of my drawings consist of solitary figures, in a solemn persona.



But yea, music does wonders. 3nodding  

[Tchick]

Teh Prurient Pirate Queen

Wow, what a great idea.

I hope it's non-caffeinated tea though... like chamomile or something relaxing like that.

You don't talk too much. We need talkers here!

It's lonely emo

Sometimes fruit teas actually, but more often than not your average kind of tea.

But I like mine milky, with two sugars and quite weak, so the caffeine intake is relatively small hehe. (I'm British - ye cannot deny me my tea! xD) But sweet milky drinks actually release a happy hormone or something, I can't remember it off the top of my head, but there is definitely some kind of reaction between the breakdown of the sugar and the lactose, gives you that content sorta feeling... Not endorphins but something else.

So yah, I don't get twitchy... Much. xD  

[Call Me Stephanie]

Ohhhhhh so that explains why people get happy after eating sugary stuffz like chocolate.

Interesting. Thanks ^_^  

[Ishrie]

I honestly don't know. I get images in my head... all the time. Without any provocation. A lot of times, when I'm trying to think up a joke or a response, it'll come up in my brain as a really weird image, and I get all choked up because I just don't have the words to explain it.

When I get art blocks (which happens really, really often), it's not because I can't think of anything to draw, it because it feels like I physically can't draw them. I'll sit down and try, but nothing will come out, nothing will work. It takes waayyy too much effort to try to get simple lines down... if I force myself through it, what is normally a ten-minute-sketch lasts several hours, and it's grindingly dull... I can never finish them. It's like I can't get in the 'zone', so to speak, and I can't draw unless I'm in that particular mindset. So I end up going months without drawing anything.

If I'm trying to get a huge spamfest of ideas, though, then I'll usually pace around the coffee table like a madman. Moving gets blood flowing to the brain, which stirs up creative juices.  

[Call Me Stephanie]

I know how that is... if I don't want to draw, I just can't. No use trying to force myself.

Thanks for sharing. ^_^

 

[yukihime21]

i also get that...quite a lot of it actually in the last few days..i simply don't know what to draw and want to draw (even when i really have to)...


i'm not sure where the heck i'm getting my ideas... i juststart doodling and when i think it looks good i'l redraw it again..but better...  

[Call Me Stephanie]

I do that. It's a great way to get the brain moving also. ^_^