Where to find inspiration? (Part 4)
At last! We have arrived at the exciting conclusion of this mini-series on how to get inspired. I have saved the very best for last. Before we jump in, a quick review:
- Part 1 talked about watching nature documentaries &/or researching history.
- Part 2 talked about reading books of all different genres and authors.
- Part 3 talked about getting out and doing the thing, as well as film.
Today, in Part 4, I’m going to talk about one of my greatest inspirations: ART! I love, love, love looking at art. All kinds of art, classical art, modern art, artists on Instagram, DeviantArt, or Art Station. I like seeing sketches in sketchbooks, finished art, paintings, drawings, digital art, traditional art, doesn’t matter, gimme ALL THE ART.
Something that I absolutely love about art is that art can tell a story, and it should make you feel something.** **I’m not going to make this a post about “What is art?” because that is an extremely interesting discussion that I could write pages and pages about. Suffice it to say that, in my opinion, I think art should, at the very least, evoke an emotional response. Good art should tell a story in addition to creating an emotional response.
Art doesn’t have pages and pages to tell a story like a book, (unless we’re talking comic books and graphic novels). Art doesn’t have 90 minutes like a movie to tell it’s story, or even 20 minutes like an episode. Art has just seconds. When you lay eyes on a piece of artwork you usually have an immediate reaction. This could range from “I like it.” “I don’t like it.” “I love it.” “I hate it.” “I don’t get it.” and so on. Does the art draw you in? What mood does the artwork create? How does it make you feel? Maybe you don’t connect with this piece at all and you just want to move on?
Everyone has heard the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”. This, to me, encapsulates the power of art and visual media. Just as artists struggle to bring life and depth to their work; our struggle, as writers, is to try to make our thousand words paint beautiful pictures in our reader’s imaginations, and to evoke an emotional response in the process.
When I want to get inspired, I like to look at art. I made a post about using mood boards as inspiration for characters, which is a great example of one way art can inspire you. (Check it out here.) In addition to having tons of screenshots and saved images on my phone and computer, I also have lots of art books. I love art books. Artbooks with concept art for video games are a particular favorite of mine. I like looking at concept art to see how many iterations different designs go through. I genuinely like seeing the creative process of other artists, and it helps me not feel discouraged when I think about how many iterations my work has to go through as well. Another favorite is concept art of landscapes, landscapes can be powerful story tellers.
For example, here are two pictures by artist, Jordan Hilliard, who I found via Google Search.
We can tell SO much about these locations just by these pictures. Each picture had a distinct mood. In addition we can easily see what the weather like, what is the scale is like, what time of day, is it some distant world, is it ancient, is it modern, and so forth. These are vastly different locations, which we can very easily see even at a quick glance. There are so many things that can be told with just a single image.
As a mini bonus, I want to talk about video games as a source of inspiration. I grew up playing video games, and I think video games are a really underappreciated but powerful medium that combines visuals with storytelling in an interactive way. Just for kicks and giggles I want to include some of my all-time favorite video games, which happen to be my favorites mainly because of the story they tell:
- Breath of Fire III
- Soul Reaver (series)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (and now Horizon Forbidde West)
- Runner ups include Final Fantasy VII, Legend of Zelda, Okami, and pretty much anything by Supergiant Games (Bastion, Transistor, and Hades)
Well, lovely readers, this was my grand finale. I hope you’ve enjoyed this mini-series and maybe gleaned some new insights on new sources of inspiration when you’re feeling stuck. Below I’ve included some pictures of my art book shelf as well as some pictures of some of my favorite art books. I’m always on the hunt for more, so if you have any good art book recommendations, I would love to hear about them! Until next time, go enjoy some art! <3
