Inspiration

Inspiration- a word that has become somewhat mystical in its meaning. However, running short of ideas or just feeling unmotivated is a very real concern for me. What do I do to get my creative juices flowing? Well, there are several avenues I turn to.

1) http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/ is a great website that peeks into artists' and designers' sketchbooks and features picturebooks. These images, for example, are from Liza Corbett's sketchbooks.

Aren't they just lovely? I am amazed at the creative processes going on inside the minds of artists and designers. They inspired me to start my own sketchbook. All are fantastic, but I prefer the sketchbooks to the picturebooks simply because of their spontaneity and rawness. My favourites include Joseph Hart's sketchbook (a fabulous look into artistic exploration by an abstract artist), Dancers by Henrik Drescher (a picturebook, but with really spontaneous figures and colours), Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva's sketchbook (love her use of colour to highlight certain areas), Lauren Nassef, Pablo Amargo (remniscent of graphic design), The China Notebooks (quirky!) and many, many more. It's really interesting to note that everyone has his/ her own distinctive style.

2) Personal blogs of artists/ designers. They provide insight into their working process. Some that I know are http://www.meghunt.com/blog/, http://www.myfolklover.typepad.com/ and http://www.krisatomic.com/blog/.

Art by Catherine Campbell of http://www.myfolklover.typepad.com/

3) http://www.flickr.com/ is a treasure trove of inspiring photos. Look at various photo groups or just search random words like 'Tokyo', 'paper' etc.

4) Similarly, http://www.deviantart.com/ is where artists post their work. Take your time to trawl through this one.

5) The Art and Design forum on www.thefashionspot.com/forums is full of interesting threads such as shop design and displays, children's book illustrations, owners and their homes etc. Hard to name a favourite 'cos I like them all!

Pictures from the children's book illustrations thread

6) http://community.livejournal.com/foto_decadent/ is a great source of photoshoots ranging from the intensely beautiful to the innovative.

Photos from French Vogue April 2008

7) http://www.condenaststore.com/ is a website selling prints of fashion illustrations featured in various magazines in the past such as Vogue. Their fashion illustrations are stunning.