[Blade]

Ok I tried drawing all day today...well maybe half a day I'll say because I had to go to church at 12:00 pm.
Anyway I get home eat then go into my room and just draw till about 7:30 p.m.
I basically doodled the whole time because I had no idea what to draw. I did quick sketches of muscles from a muscle magazine and finished that in about 1 and a half hours. Then I tried a self-portrait of myself which turned out ok. Then after those I just doodled the whole damn time. I couldn't think of anything to really take some time to draw.

Anybody have any ideas on how to cure this lack of imagination or inspiration? or anyone got any suggestions on things I could draw next weekend? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Collosimo]

Well, not a very interesting thread here....

Want to post some of those images! and brighten it up!

Try drawing a Troll. Just an idea...

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/COLLOSIMO

[jasonN]

I have that problem all the time. I'm experiencing it right now. I always end up doing little doodles of faces and heads. Some quick figure gestures and that's about it. Never anything solid to work with.

I also have the problem of having too many influences. I'll want to do an airbrush pic, a paintbrush pic, a comic style pic and an anime style pic all at once. Because of all these conflicting ideas I have whizzing around my mind, I always end up just doodling bits and pieces. I have a real problem committing to a final coloured piece. I've really gotta break out of this.
What do I do!!!!????

-Jason

[tayete]

I don't think you have to look for great scenes to draw. When I look at Frazetta's work I always think how little he needed to make a picture. Surely the muscles you drew yesterday could take to a scene, or any of the doodles could be finished.
Just look at the rest of the pics posted here, 90% of them are just paintings, don't have a big message for the viewer, just are paintings (and really nice ones most of them!).
Anyway, my inspiration always comes from books, not directly, but reading always develops your mind, and even in the Bible there are great scenes to paint (I did not know there were so many battles in the Book, until I started to read it by curiosity and culture, not for religion). Je je, the egyptians being covered by the waters as they pursue Moses would be a great Berni Wrightson's pic.

[strata]

I usually write down all the ideas I get at work and send them to myself in a little email so that I can read it when I get home... then I save all those in a folder so's I won't forget the ideas which I really liked. Then when I get the time and feel that my drawing hand is up for it I'll go for one of the ideas and see how it turns out... so's I don't lose many ideas =)

[Lunatique]

Dude, it's actually quite easy. If you dig cute chick, draw them. If you like sci-fi space ships, do that. If you like horror creatures, create some. Then, if like all kinds of stuff, combine them. Think of the movies, comic, music, novels, and games you like, and let your imagination run wild.

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www.ezsf.net/enchanted

[quaternius]

It took a long time for me to realize I didn't always have to come up with some kind of a great subject or idea to draw. And it's great to draw from imagination too - but why not try simpler things if you're just experimenting. Look around at your desktop, draw things that you see - a tv remote control, several marker pens on the table top, a rolodex full of index cards, a desktop zip drive, an evian water bottle, your printer, your scanner, a stack of books, etc.
In my case, I've got gargoyles, Starwars models, Toystory models and Bugslife models laying around too.

They're all good for practicing layout, composition, perspective, light and shadow, and just getting better at drawing. Drawing "real" things around you can only help you with the imaginative stuff. Once you get going on this, and start sketching and drawing everything around you I think you might someday realize there's no shortage of subjects - just a shortage of time.

If you really want a book to jog your idea machine, try this one:
"200 Great painting Ideas for Artists" by Katchen

Good luck and have fun.

Q