Ideas do not just arrive

Inspiration only looks like the weather at first glance. It shows up after you have loaded material into your head. Below are twelve sources. You can go through them in order.

A desk with a laptop and notebook

Inspiration as the result of input

An empty head after a week of work and a feed is normal: there are no new impressions in it. Half an hour of input a day gives you ideas for a week. Input is a walk, a museum, a book, a conversation.

Write it down right away

An idea lives about three minutes, then it dissolves. Write it down immediately in one line, using "what" plus "mood": "a woman at a gas station, night, green light."

Look at what is around you

The first three sources are already at hand. They only ask for attention.

People in transit and in cafes

Source 1. Look at poses, not faces: how someone holds a glass, how they hunch over a phone. Draw for 30 seconds per person, until they leave.

Light and weather

Source 2. One street in fog, in rain, and in sunset light is three different scenes. Collect conditions: long shadows at 6 p.m., blue light before dark.

Your own photos

Source 3. Photograph whatever catches you: a rusty door, a fold in a jacket, a branch against the sky. After a month, pick five frames from the gallery to draw. What to do next is covered in the article on drawing from reference.

Other kinds of art

Ideas from another field do not look like copies, because you translate them from sound or text into an image.

Music and the mood it sets

Source 4. Play an unfamiliar track and draw it: a patch of color, the rhythm of the lines, weight or lightness. One track, one small canvas.

Books, movies, and poetry

Source 5. Take one sentence or one frame, not the whole plot. In a movie, pause a frame and take apart how it is built. The principles are collected in the piece on composition.

Chance as a method

When there is nothing to choose from, a random pick helps. Chance takes the responsibility for the subject off you, and starting gets easier.

Three random words

Source 6. Take three nouns and join them into one image.

  1. Ask a friend for three words, or open a book at random.
  2. Write them in a row: "lighthouse," "fox," "phone."
  3. Give yourself 5 minutes for three scene options, one line each.
  4. Pick the strangest one and draw for 20 minutes.

A scribble and a blot

Source 7. Close your eyes and draw a random line, or drop a blot. Turn the canvas and find a figure, a face, or a landscape in the spot. Finish it on a new layer.

A random page of a book

Source 8. Open a book to any page and take the top sentence. Draw literally what it says, even if the result is absurd.

Archives and history

Old images give you what today's life does not: different silhouettes, textures, and odd objects.

Old photos and clothing

Source 9. A family album and archive photos are ready-made scenes with a mood already in them. Study the clothes: how a jacket sits, how the collars differ.

Museum collections online

Source 10. Large museums have put their collections online, including sketches and drafts. Other people's sketches are more useful than finished paintings: you can see how the problem was solved. The uses and limits of that practice are covered in the piece on copying other artists.

Limits

The last two sources work the other way: they narrow the choice. The fewer decisions, the faster an idea shows up.

Three colors and one brush

Source 11. Limit the palette to three colors and do not change the brush. You will have to invent with form, not with effects.

One theme for the week

Source 12. Pick a narrow theme for seven days: "windows," "hands," "rain," "food." By the third day the obvious options run out. A theme for the week is a good way out of a creative block.

Shortcut

Number these twelve sources in your notes and pick the number by the date: the 5th is source 5. Choosing takes a second, and it switches your head on immediately.

An idea bank

What you find has to be stored, or you will have to search again every time. The bank takes five minutes a week.

A list of subjects in your notes

Keep one note called "what to draw" and add lines without filtering them. A good target is thirty items. Then an empty head does not happen.

Mood boards in folders

Sort pictures into folders by mood, not by object: "night city," "warm light," "winter." Before you work, look at the folder you need for two minutes.

Time to draw, not just read

Theory fades in a couple of days if you never use it. Open the editor and spend 15 minutes on what you just read. That is enough for the skill to stick.

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Topics in this guide

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