Finding Inspiration
Creating a quality piece of artwork is tough. It takes time to create an original and powerful piece of work, but the finished product will reward you in so many ways. With the Internet at our fingertips many aspiring artist use other’s work to create their artwork. Leaving the artist and the audience with a bland taste in their mouth. It can be hard to be original, but with some inspiration it can be a little bit easier.
The web, use it the right way.
Smashing Magazine and Behance are my two favorite places to go for ideas and techniques. I recently created a restaurant menu for a design class I was taking. The project was open-ended (just how I like it) and I was stuck at first. I kept thinking about Applebees and how boring their menu was, but when I stumbled across a couple of grungy collages (on Behance), the idea of a post WWII French restaurant came to mind. I had never seen a destroyed French restaurant, but the ideas I had taken from a Behance artist and a general understanding of WWII allowed me to create one of my favorite works. I still take a glance at the menu.
Smashing and Behance are my favorite places to go, but their are thousands of places to go for inspiration. Navigate Flickr, you’re bound to find an interesting idea or technique you could incorporate into your work.
Look around and find something.
Find something you look at everyday. You’ve probably have never really “looked” at it. A lamp, a dirty window sill, a textured wall, anything! For me, this has become the easiest way to find original ideas. While writing this, I noticed an old surge protector with a flickering orange light, similar to a candle flame. This surge protector has to be only a few years old, but the flashing light gives me a picture of what a surge protector might have looked like 100 years ago. It might sound weird, but I think good art has to be weird to be original.
Do something else.
Sitting at the computer or in front of a sketchpad doesn’t fill me with ideas. I tend to find my best ideas while doing something drastically different. Taking a shower is where I discover some interesting ideas. Watering the plants is another way to get the mind flowing (no pun intended, really). It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you’re away from your work and are physically doing something else. It might be the relieving of stress or the awakening of stationed muscles, but it truly does work.
Picture 1 by Coba
Picture 2 by Bunny Beats!
