Inspiration

Personally i dont believe in inspiration. Ive come to think of it as just another buzz word (one of those lame 1337 thingys). To get motivated i first search for pictures related to my idea. I find the pics really get my mind goin about colors/shapes/lines etc. Then (my fav technique) i pop into the thesaurus and just start looking up words related to my ideas. It works quite well.

Other techniques:
- Try something u havnt done before...try new techniques/styles etc.
- Just experiment. Beating the hell out of a random picture for a few minutes can generate ideas (i do this alot..some of my best work starts out this way)
- surf those "design" sites. I dont reccomend this though. You dont learn anything in the process, your ideas become limited and you lose that full creativity you need, and the product is always a bit unoriginal.

Best technique. DO NOT FORCE IDEAS! just go look at porn and play games for a while. Do anything other than design stuff. Forget about it and it will work out in the end


(can we like sticky this er something?? maybe have 1 "inspiration" thread so ppl dont have to keep posting..just an idea)

try looking at art communities such as deviant art or gfx artist

im not a fan of dev art..but gfx has a sickening amount of talent! i def. reccomend going there. (though be prepared to feel like crap to the point where u want to delete photoshop and become a janitor for the rest of your life...i warned ya. Surf gfx cautiously!!)

I usually will draw a picture, not of what I want the site to look like, but just something cool in general, and typically that becomes the basis for my site.

Originally posted by Rodder454
Personally i dont believe in inspiration...To get motivated i first search for pictures related to my idea. I find the pics really get my mind goin about colors/shapes/lines etc.

Well, you just contradicted yourself within the span of three sentences.

i think this is the best place to get ideas at http://www.favouritewebsiteawards.com/ and lately i've been finding pixelranger and 2advanced to be great sources.

I dont call any of that inspiration (well except for "surf those 'design' sites"....but i dont reccomend that..or do it often). When I talk about "colors/shapes/lines"...i dont mean in general to get ideas off it..i mean related to my idea. Really its more about finding the "right" picture. Same goes for the thesaurus thing. I dont really get ideas off the thesarus..it just helps me better describe my current idea.

Call it what you want though..i mean there are a million definitions. Just personally...unless something hits me on a emotional level that causes some form of a grand idea... i dont use/believe in the word. I think the word gets abused a lot of times which can screw ppl up. Lucky ive taught myself to disregard it....and become more of a problem solver than a great thinker. Or maybe im just turing it to a freaky artist (im on that path anyway lol).

Inspiration:
An agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.

(from dictionary.com)

And your point is?? Or maybe you dont understand the word personal....

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=personal

(from dictionary.com).

Also why we are in the dictionary....lets throw out some more definitions:

Inspiration (2) - the quality or state of being inspired
Inspire - to exert an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence on etc.....

Thats the way I choose to use the word. Whether you think thats wrong...it doesnt make a difference. I mean Ive seen your list of inspiration. Im not saying its a bad list...but you really dont have a "strong" hold of the word either. You have that kinda newb mentality about it. Instead you really need to go explore the issue, find out what inspiration means to you....cause its different for everyone and generally can't be confined by a single definition. Maybe then you'll see where im coming from.

Has anyone checked out happypencil.com?

His work has been an inspiration of mine for awhile. Does a lot of the artwork for TooL.