How do you get inspiration for your artwork? I'm young and would like to try art, after learning about it from my art history class but I don't know how to get inspired. Please don't tell me to take drugs because that's not what I wanna do.
I think being inspired is very close to flowing with yourself, and translating that flow into images, sounds, figures, movements, whatever. I just try to look for the moment where I stop thinking and I just do whatever I'm doing. I also think that having good technical skills in whatever you want to do helps creativity alot, so you could start there. I hope what I said makes sense.
My favorite thing to do is listen to music for inspiration. Just listen - don't do anything else. Close your eyes and try to picture what it would look like if it were a picture instead of a song. At first you might just draw blanks, but after a while your imagination lets itself go and every song you hear will create it's own design. Is the song a scenic photograph? Is it an abstract mural? Is it 3D? A series of images? Image what color the song might be, and use those hues. The ideas it inspires are endless, every song is different and inspires different thoughts and pictures in my head. Try listening to music you haven't heard before, especially world music. Something egyptian, latin, african, brazilian. If you've never listened to funk or jazz, try that. Try classical or heavy metal. I once found a CD of traditional indian chanting done over electronic beats, and it was amazing. The music you listen to during your daily life may not be the same music you listen to for your inspirations. If you need any artist/song recommendations, I'd be happy to help. Or maybe try writing down weird sentences that no one has ever thought of before, then put them to images. "The antelope feast on the fine green leaves of the fork salad salsa tongs." "The sky came raining and they sat on a thunderous message of doom." Okay, it's good that you don't want to do drugs to do this because then you'll be talking stupid shit like this ^. But do follow the music suggestion.
Wow, both of these responses helped sooooo much. I already have a ton of world music on my iPod so that's good. I meditate to music quite a bit and it's great. Thank you! I'm surprised how much this helped, lol.
