Inspiration 101: What makes us inspired and how do we use this inspiration?
An idea for a new piece of art can reveal itself at any moment; in the shower, walking the street, watching a movie, reading a book – as artists, inspiration just comes naturally and we usually have more trouble keeping up with the ideas we have to bring to life rather than looking for them. Sometimes, though, the visual artist equivalent of a writer’s block can suddenly keep us from creating anything for a long time. So let’s take a look at what inspiration really is and break it up into a few concepts that might spark that new idea for you whenever you feel stuck.
The great artists of the world didn’t sit up one morning, throw some slop on a piece of paper, and become modernized. They were observers, and they had to be. The very beginning to becoming an artist is absolute perception. Make your work become noticed by proper observation of what is around you.
Inspiration through perception
- People Watch- No, seriously. Take the time to simply sit in a park and watch people. Take in what people love and observe. See what fascinates them. The interests they have are going to be different from your own, and by taking two separate opinions it grants the opportunity to learn and expend as an artist.
- Study trends- Trends come and go, but often times you will notice they don’t go away ‘permanently’. The next big trend is often a simple modification that was merely a preference to the potential consumers. If you learn what people love in art and develop your work around it, it is a recipe for success.
- Inquire professional minds- Professional minds of the art field stay involved with knowing about the new trends, the interests of the modern society, because to them it’s beauty, but it’s also a hobby.
Using inspiration
Taking in the various things you see around you can be a key component to the finest masterpiece. Think about the great artists of the world and their greatest developments. Often they were dark and gloomy, but it was them, surviving in a world and describing what they saw around them.
A great piece of art is something that takes the fragile states of a mind and allows it to essentially broadcast to anyone who lays eyes on it the exact feeling of the artist. Pain is in fact painful, but in the world of art, it is beautiful.
Pain for pleasure
Desperation- Everyone can relate to the feeling of desperation, it is a sad truth. We all experience times where we don’t know of an escape or a possible outcome, we simple hope for the best and allow time to grant mercy. Art that portrays this kind of image does very well because it gives a common emotion that everyone can identify with an image that everyone can believe in.
Love- Another incredibly strong emotion. Take an image of love and put it together so that people can see it and feel the vibrancies of warmth and affection. Not only does love not distribute a feeling we all want to experience, the image of it tickles the very chords to our hearts and gives some of us a chance to believe In it again, when often times it can become a feeling some of us forget about.
Family oriented- The sense of family Is something that many family’s based their entire life off of. The art of sticking together and the fact that no matter the challenge by sticking together you can achieve anything. It’s a subject matter that delivers the most impressive of emotions because it states: to care about and look after those we love most, enables the ability to take the world as ours to control as long as we have impeccable support.
Defeat- The world is wonderful when it focuses on victory and achievement, but defeat is just as important. Defeat offers the ability of a learned lesson, a vital mistake, and a potential to prevent it in the future. Without defeat there would be no change or growth within the society we all like to call home. You have to accept the bad for there to be any growth of good.
Inspiration at its finest
The inspiration that motivates art work is something that will deliver an inspiring artist, or one simple not meant to be. An artist has the ability to capture and understand human emotion and feelings in a way above and beyond your average individual. Inspiration comes from the heart, sure, but from the very power of perception as well. That is how great art is developed and noticed, in the long run.
