10 Ways to Find Meaningful Inspiration for Your Art!
Artists all around the globe through all periods of time have struggled with creative blocks from time to time. What do you do when you hit a dry patch? Where do you go for inspiration without copying other artists? Here is a list of ten different ways in which you can accomplish just that!
Go Outside for a Walk
One of my favorite things to do when I am struggling for inspiration is to just go outside. I take my sketchbook with me as well as my favorite felt tip pen and take walks around my neighborhood, or simply sit in my front or backyard and do simple gesture drawings of several things until you find something that you enjoy. After you have an image you like, you could also take it and make it digital for more options.
Create Something Based on Your Belief System
There is something unique about each person, including the things that we all believe in. I have used my personal belief system as a basis for some of my artworks, even design school assignments. There are endless opportunities for what kinds of things you could create based off of you unique view of the world.
Meet New People
Whenever you meet someone new, you typically try to remember as much about them as you can from your first encounter so that the next encounter is not quite so awkward. Why not take their personality and whatever else you remember about them and turn it into a piece of art as a sort of journal entry.
Turn a Song Into a Painting
During my freshman year of design school, my favorite project that I completed was creating a painting from the different elements of one single song. Simply listen to the song as many times as you would like and find as many different elements that you would like to represent in your artwork. You could also use any types of mediums that you prefer.
Create Your Own Version of an Older Artwork
Research some of your favorite traditional artists or look through an old art history textbook and find your favorite artwork. It could be 2D or 3D, but take whatever you’d like and recreate it in your own style to see what comes of it.
Simply Google Lists of Prompts
One of the things that I have utilized multiple times myself is to simply Google search prompts. There are several people on the internet that have already come up with lists of ideas to spark your creativity, and I have personally created some great pieces using lists such as those.
Study One Item or Body Part
If you are currently stuck in a creative rut, use this time as a time to study something that you normally don’t draw or something that you are typically known to not do well. For myself, I usually focus on different body parts and create a sketchbook entry several pages long of that one body part, a hand for example.
Create a Piece of Art Using All Five Senses
An interesting experiment is to complete a single artwork using a different medium for all five of your senses, sort of like creating an artwork with the different elements of a single song. To make it even more interesting, try stimulating all five senses at the same time while creating your unique piece.
Go Outside of Your Comfort Zone
If you typically consider yourself a painter, try using clay as a medium and see what happens. If you typically consider yourself to be a sculptor, try using a different material than what you are most comfortable with using. It might not turn out like you are expecting, but sometimes holding another material is most inspiring.
Recreate a Favorite Scene
Take one of your favorite movies or books and write up a comic strip and draw out one of your favorite scenes. Using this idea, you could also take this opportunity to further you calligraphy or handwriting skills.
What are some of your favorite ways to get inspired when you find yourself in a creative rut? Comment them down below!
