where do you get inspriation....or what do you do do when you get "artist block"

[The Assmonkey]

meh....I kinda got myself in a rut and I'm just wondering where you guys may go for inspiration and what not.

[Nimrod]

www.conceptart.org/forums

you guys are all so great! AWWWW GROUP HUG

[Sketch]

music and culture

[Leopoldo]

I change the colour of my pencil.

If I am using a grey pencil I change to a red one or a blue one.

When working full time and employed with dead lines breathing down your neck and a crew of 3d people waiting for concepts all you can do is draw your way through it.

Draw it off. Draw draw draw.

I don't sketch and skecth and sketch.

I rework the same sketch until it works. Keep at it and make it better, reworking the same piece of paper with different coloured pencils until I find the lines I want.

I close me eyes, concentrate and envision in my minds eye what it is I am doing, where I want it to go and then I draw it.

I can turn it around in my mind, examine it from various angles and draw it. I test things out in the sketch, searching, hunting for the lines.

I think, ponder, read the script again, listen to the voice recordings, talk to the director, talk to the client, I look at art books and watch movies that are close to what I am working just so I know what to keep away from.

I listen to Nine Inch Nails at full volume and blow my mind out drawing at a furious speed, searching for the solution.

I smoke ten cigerettes, walking briskly around the block, glaring at the sidewalk, ponder the task at hand.

I stare at the empty sheet of paper that tantelizes me with it's promises of wonders and magical journeys, I sharpen my pencil, pack my bag and head off on the journey of a hard day's work.

Bon travail,
Leopoldo

[WildSpruceMoose]

Nice tips for us all Leopoldo ;)

I listen to music watch tv and then draw :P Always works. If it doesn't though just do some homework or something important and you''l start drawing halfway through ^^

[nova]

for me, it usually happens as an effect of routine, so i gain a new hobby or do something regular completely different for a while, before i go find some new reference/inspirational art or whatnot.

[Leopoldo]

Doing something different is really good if you have the time to do something else. When you are working with illustration, like storyboarding for 3 months on an animated feature, you can't really run into a rut (aka artist block), if you do it's a sure ticket to being fired. The scheduals are so tight as they are because the budgets are so tigtht.

Every day behind schedual makes the producer sweat and they are your employer, so they come back to you and breath down your neck...

I can hit 70 storyboards on a 8 hour day, shaded, but that would burn me out in a week. 30 storyboards a day is very good. Now add to the fact that you have to tell a great story, sticking to the script, drawing clearly so everyone can read the action and hopefully on model (so it looks like the characters). These artistic pressures are enough to break the best on a bad day. So take care of yourself.

This next stuff might be off topic but it's a continuation of my previous post in this thread. After I had written that I talked about the process of drawing and artists block through with my friend (who also works in the field, at a major studio) and I came to the conclusion, but I guess this is very personal, that I sometimes project (like a film projector) my idea on to the paper and simply follow the lines more or less. Combined with searching for the lines while sketching this will bring me to the final drawing, ready for cleanup.

I'm sorry I can't add images to my posts, or I would. I simply don't know how. Could someone please explain how to add images to my posts. That would be great.

In the mean time I refer you to my portfolio at http://www.fabpics.com/leo check out the underlaying sketchs in redish or blusish drawings. Concept portfolio buttons 2,3,4,5

Anyway, hope this made sense.
Have fun,
Leo

[WildSpruceMoose]

By 30 storyboards you mean frames right? Oh and I'll private message you later to explain the image attachment ;)

[el coro]

i look at other artists work. it helps me everytime. or i'll use a different medium. or both.-c36

[mcotie]

play guitar.

[coriat]

I just focus on other things for a while. Like sport, making and writing music, going out watching movies, until i feel the need to draw again...Maybe not the best method when you're a pro, but if you're drawing for a living, it's more fun then having to force yourself to draw...:D :chug:

[Leopoldo]

Yeah, 30 frames or panels in 8 hours. That's usually the requirment from the employers.

Leopoldo

[Tanika]

I will:

A) Draw it off, just scribble the stupidest looking oddities on paper you've ever seen, until one looks good.

B) do an art trade with someone, so I HAVE to make art and it HAS to be good.

C) Listen to music, meditate, and draw out the scenes running through my mind.


Those are the three best things I've done so far to get out of artists blocks and/or get inspired. :3 Music is a huge influence on my art.

[WildSpruceMoose]

30 panel damn that's impressive for a school project on Gladiators it took me like 5 hrs to complete 16 panels with barely any decent texture rendering or shading :P Meh day by day.

On another note Tanika's right and so is everyone else here music+any sketching at all is best way ;)