[Thr3ddy]

Hello everybody.

I would like to begin a study on how fellow artists gain a higher sense of imagination and control over the piece that you are creating. Give me any theory that you might have is it from meditation to alcohol, maybe even sex or other stimulants.

What do you do to stimulate your brain to achieve that greater sense? I want to know this so I can compose a document, or more on how to elimite the so called "Artists Block." If you do not wish to publicize your thoughts here on this forum, you can also mail me at:
eddy AT thr3ddy DOT com for anonymous treatment.

I know that many artists struggle with the large amount of white-space that is given to them by that aweful piece of paper. So why is it that when you have begun to draw, it all comes more easily? I have read "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards, and have seen some narrow (read: a few) answers to these questions.

So how do you deal with it? How do you get sufficient input to start your output?

Thank you in advance,
Eddy

[[Shizo]]

How do you become happy, when you feel really sad and depressed? If you find an answer to that, you can find an answer to your question

PS: although with getting happy is easier, cause you dont have to output (produce) any quality artwork.. but when you draw, you have to do just that, and that makes it even more difficult.

[Thr3ddy]

Your Post Scriptum was the response I was looking for.

[[Shizo]]

[Thr3ddy]

[[Shizo]]

[A.Buttle]

I like to viciously kill innocent children.

I hate you.
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[Drunken Monkey]

those who depend on spontaneous insights and are constantly waiting for inspiration fall into mentally lazy category and seldom achieve anything worth noting.

you want a cool idea? bake your noodle. work your ass off.
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"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity" - Sigmund Freud

[V Shane]

There is never a lack of creativity, only a lack of approach. Approaching things the same way you have always approached with the same media in the same genre is the way to ensure a creative "fat" set point.

Personaly I work with speed painting silhouettes of randombrush strokes, and let your natural subconcious try to make something out of it. We could even start a speed painting Rorschach thread. Someone takes random solid strokes bunched together and the rest of the participants must make a painting of it (without altering it, but adding to it is ok) ala speed painting/spooge style (PhotoShop glazing).

Any one up for it?
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Lichen Rice is worse than Licorice

[dfacto]

Watch movies, shows, read sci-fi, fantasy, anything that gets your imagination going. Then daydream half the day away like I invariably do and you got yourself an imagination. Doodling helps too. Your mind really can make some cool stuff out of random lines.
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It has been clinically proven that other people's pain IS funny.

[Jimmyjimjim]

Whenever I get stuck I just whip out a few pieces of my trusty "Kodak Bright White" and start drawing.

Nothing cures a working block like more work.

[neff]

Ehrm, what about hearing cool music while doing art?
I prefer MovieSoundtracks.
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[ceenda]

[AndyT]

I like [Shizo]'s and Drunken Monkey's replys.
It sounds as if Thr3ddy wants to find a way to create good images without learning how to draw/paint properly.
Pretty much like Light.

Children tend to draw/paint the same things over and over again.
And in the same way. NOT GOOD!

I agree .... the more new stuff you try (or the more input you get), the more ideas you have.
I know I have enough ideas for hundreds of images ... I just couldn't realize them.

I never heard a really good artist complain about a lack of ideas.
They seem to pump out amazing images as if it was nothing.
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http://www.conceptworld.org

[Adamantine]

[Sancheezy]

It is all about inspiration for me. What that means is almost always different, but I need to stay inspired.

Often I will study my favorite artists(both musical and art) And often I get rushes of inspiration. The Greats drive me to be better. Also sometimes it is just a sunset or a cloud. Or maybe somebodies smile, or the way the light reflects off of something. The trick, I think, is to not be limited by what you are curretly capable of, but to strive to be capable of everything.
When you are able to try anything then everything is inspiration.

I hope that didn't sound preachy or something. 'Cause this is my first post here. I was just really interested in the topic.

[The Electric Monk]

a) Obscene amounts of caffeine.
b) Two words: Sugar high
c) Music.
d) Browse stock photo galleries.
e) Read poetry.

If none of those works, you're screwed. Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
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Gee, I sure like TV. And wearing pants.

[Lunatique]

Err, that's like asking "How do I become more witty and clever?" If you aren't already witty and clever, I don't know if anything can help you become so. Maybe hang around witty and clever people a lot and let their vibe rub off on you? Or, watch lots of stand-up comedy/sitcoms?

As far as imagination goes, we are the sum of our influences. What you put into your brain is what comes out. Originality does not exist in a vacuum, and creativity is always inspired by something.

However, I think the more you use your imagination, the stronger it becomes. One of the hardest things to do creatively is writing. Try writing short stories, screenplays..etc. Create a whole universe with a history and fill it with interesting characters, and then develop the relationships between the characters. Before you know it, your head will be filled with so much interesting imagery for this univers you have created, you could spend a whole year just designing/drawing/painting these ideas. Just look at George Lucas. That guy's been riding on that Star Wars shit for an obscene number of years.

[Giant Hamster]

People that rip off other artists are doing the right thing...but they're going about it the wrong way.

Rippers copy others and share it right away.. no no no. Rip other people off in private.


Rip, mix, stir, modify...after you've mashed After enough stolen ideas together you'll have a hideous beast to call your own.

[[Shizo]]

[Drew]

If you take a look at the speed painting thread, you'll find dozens of artists whose work looks very different. That's because each of them have different goals when they're making their art. And that's because they're different people, who are inspired by different things.

So for an artist like Nivbed, sitting and meditating and getting in touch with his soul might help him get inspired and then share his feeling with the world. For me, sitting and meditating may help me be more insightful, but would most likely not provide any useful artistic results. Seeing Aliens for the 100th time might do the trick, though. The important thing is not what the artist does, but that whatever it is that he does produces some new ideas. Yeah, "duh" you already know that.

But that's the entire problem. You simply can't capture "new", because anything that is new is soon to be old. I'm just not going to get a flood of ideas every time I watch a movie that I really like. I let my imagination go all the time, so it's not a question returning to the child-like state. I never left it! It's just that sometimes all of the factors that help me be creative click in just the right way, and what I produce is significantly more interesting than what I produced last year. And, for me, the uncertainty of being able to produce something interesting is part of what keeps the whole process interesting.

[Lunatique]

Hamster knows. Take Spooge's Mickey mouse ear series for an example. Victorian, disneyland, and industrial age aren't necessarily original on their own because they've all been done. But mixing them together, you get something that's quite charming.

Shizo- New Ziyi webby? Nope, why don't you post a link?

I just answered you pm.

[[Shizo]]

Hey, the ZZ website is at www.helloziyi.com and is only in Chinese so far.
It's pretty to look at.. nice flash. They also had a huge conferense for her birthday and website opening on Feb 9th. I never heard of celebrating a website opening before.

[Fionabus]

This is what I find to be true, the best remedy for art block is sleep. Things come more smoothly you're not putting stress or pressure on them. Talking a walk, cooling down, things tend to work themselves out a bit better if your relaxed, especially creative matters. Not to focused on an outside matter or influence can help a good deal. The other thing for art block is emotion, you can paint with it and have amazing results.
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-Fiona

[Heysoos]

theres lots of different tricks you can do to come up with ideas, heres a few I try from time to time.

words- sometimes it just takes a single word to spring an idea into the brain, sometimes I go roughling through song titles, lyrics, poems etc. And you come across a short phrase or something that suddenly connects. Like "Crossroads", "cold","voyage", "wandering" etc.

Other art-its good to have a collection of several very specific pieces of art that to you are the very definition of great works of art. Of what you hope you can aspire too. This is a much more exclusive group of works from your other collections that are just cool works of art. This is the very top of the bunch.

Compostion-sometimes when you can't find an idea for your image you can start with just an abstract image. Get the movement, mood, and drama of the piece and then let the subject matter come into it.

look for new things- go watch a new movie, visit galleries or bookstores or just go on a walk and observe things. This is a dangerous way of getting past a block because it borders on putting it off until later, which is the worst thing to do. When doing this make sure you bring along a lil sketchbook or something to put ideas into as soon as you come up with them.

Look at a collection of your previous artwork. Think about what is important in these works, what were your ideas for these works, what are the similarities. what would be the logical next step.

go into a "artists block" discussion thread and come up with a list of getting past artist blocks and then follow your own advice.

The worst thing you can do is wait for an idea to suddenly come to you. The longer you put it off the more pressure there is on how good the idea has to be, making it even harder. This is where discipline comes in, a lot of the time you just aren't in a creative artmaking mood and you have to force yourself past that wall.