# Vexed by Creativity...



## Zanzawolf (Jul 31, 2010)

Haven't been able to truly draw for 2 years now. Originally it was just that I lacked confidence to put pencil to paper. I have gotten past that some confidence issues and have become more confident in myself but now have run into another problem. 

I feel creatively lacking. No interesting ideas come to mind when I try to draw and when I have produced something it just feels stale and bland...

 In a way I feel this has been around for half of the time I have been drawing when I look back. I never really been able to just look at any object(s) and just be able to warp/abstract or just personalize in what ever way I felt was right at the time. Just seems I've always just tried to draw literally what I saw and gave it no real defining factors.

How do your thoughts work when it comes to producing ideas? How do you tend to view the world artwise? Really anything you might have to help me out would be great.

Thank you :grin:


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## Tao (Aug 1, 2010)

I have this problem when I try to draw or make something so I listen to music. Music can tend to give you ideas, especially techno if you're into that.


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## Zanzawolf (Aug 1, 2010)

Tao said:
			
		

> I have this problem when I try to draw or make something so I listen to music. Music can tend to give you ideas, especially techno if you're into that.



Don't know what it is but yeah I've tried the music remedy but it really doesn't seem to help that much. Not sure how to describe it but I guess it would it just gives me maybe an idea for what mood/emotion I want to go for but nothing more. Just mainly as of late trying to become more imaginative with my character design work.


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## CarmineChimera (Aug 1, 2010)

Try switching mediums and what you're used to working with. I haven't done a decent graphite sketch in a few years, so I recently switched to clay again to try out some figure modeling. 
I suddenly got out of my slump by exploring with new materials. Its good to try to leave the boundaries your comfortable with and try new things, you'll usually learn something out of it or suddenly get ideas for old stuff. 
It doesn't have to be clay mind you, it could be plaster, wood carving, watercolor, jewelry... just try something you've never done before and your not familiar with and see how it works out.


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## gdzeek (Aug 1, 2010)

hmm, ussually just throughout the day I just think of funny thoughts, wonder if certain ideas have ever been drawn. Music, movies and browsing others art always helps give new Ideas. Kinda spontaneous really

I've never really been able to draw much before but I know trying to draw requests or gifts for other people can be a good motivator and it forces an artist to try and see with someone elses perspective, if they drew the same image how would they want it to look. you can try entering some of the smaller drawing contests that pop up from time to time, or artist memes where they give you some basic instructions and leave it up to you to think, How can I make this image mor appealling to people seeing it, does it have the right mood, is it funny for some reason.

I'm probably way off but hopefully that was somewhat helpful XD


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## Jw (Aug 1, 2010)

I have to deal with this kind of insecurity pretty often for some reason. The truth is, sometimes you can't force inspiration. Still, try to do those things that give you inspiration. If you're fortunate enough to live near some art museums or galleries, take a stroll through them. If you live in the middle of nowhere like me, try looking at different artists's work on the internet that are members of some art movement you like. Listen to music and imagine a non-literal music video for the song (my personal favorite inspiration). Read some books, or focus on an emotion instead of the subject. Retell funny thoughts in your head throughout the day.

As far as looking at the world artistically, there's a point where you want to break loose from what you see 100% and begin to look at how things make you feel. Sure, you can draw an orange, but it doesn't mean anything except "woo, I found some fruit to draw!". Seeing an orange and remembering your childhood when you ate oranges outside with friends in the summer-- now there's a launching point to bring in an emotion of your own. Then, you can possibly draw something related to the orange, your childhood, or something deeper-- that's what a lot of modern artists like to do.  Sometimes, part of making art relate-able and inspired-looking to others is making it personal and allowing the viewer to make that connection too.


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## Zanzawolf (Aug 2, 2010)

gdzeek said:
			
		

> I've never really been able to draw much before but I know trying to draw requests or gifts for other people can be a good motivator and it forces an artist to try and see with someone elses perspective, if they drew the same image how would they want it to look. you can try entering some of the smaller drawing contests that pop up from time to time, or artist memes where they give you some basic instructions and leave it up to you to think, How can I make this image mor appealling to people seeing it, does it have the right mood, is it funny for some reason.





			
				jwmcd2 said:
			
		

> I have to deal with this kind of insecurity pretty often for some reason. The truth is, sometimes you can't force inspiration. Still, try to do those things that give you inspiration. If you're fortunate enough to live near some art museums or galleries, take a stroll through them. If you live in the middle of nowhere like me, try looking at different artists's work on the internet that are members of some art movement you like. Listen to music and imagine a non-literal music video for the song (my personal favorite inspiration). Read some books, or focus on an emotion instead of the subject. Retell funny thoughts in your head throughout the day.
> 
> As far as looking at the world artistically, there's a point where you want to break loose from what you see 100% and begin to look at how things make you feel. Sure, you can draw an orange, but it doesn't mean anything except "woo, I found some fruit to draw!". Seeing an orange and remembering your childhood when you ate oranges outside with friends in the summer-- now there's a launching point to bring in an emotion of your own. Then, you can possibly draw something related to the orange, your childhood, or something deeper-- that's what a lot of modern artists like to do. Sometimes, part of making art relate-able and inspired-looking to others is making it personal and allowing the viewer to make that connection too.



Hmm I might give those a try. Thanks for the help.


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## Faustus (Aug 2, 2010)

If I'm lacking on inspiration, I usually pick up a dictionary or encyclopedia and flick through to a random topic. Wikipedia has a 'Random Topic' button in the toolbar on the left of its main screen, try hitting that and seeing what comes up.

-F


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## Taralack (Aug 2, 2010)

Use your imagination?


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## Fenrari (Aug 2, 2010)

Creativity is always there.

You need but practice to pull things together.

Another furry was in the same position (without a muse). For her I recommended going on Wikipedia, clicking a link drawing it, clicking another link and drawing that. Sketches don't have to be complicated and it'll all be good  Just do what comes naturally to you. Draw and sketch as you can and see fit. Continue with the wikipedia link exercise until you get to a page that has no links on them. Try it?


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## Zydala (Aug 2, 2010)

sometimes you just can't get the creative juices flowing. I suffer from that a lot. Usually what I have to do is just... force myself to draw and not care that it isn't very good/creative/original etc. Drawing SOMETHING is better than drawing nothing, you know?

One fun exercise I did once was drawing without thinking or lifting your pen from a paper. Just start scribbling for a bit and don't think about where the pen is going. Sometimes, a picture comes out of it anyway. It's kind of neat.


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