How do you best come up with ideas for your art?
This is a question I have been trying to find the answer to for a while now. As an artist, I want to be creating as much as possible, but inspiration has been lacking for a long time. I wrote a post about art block a few months ago, and I honestly still feel the same way. I seem to be able to push through assignments, but making art on my own has been a struggle, to say the least.
On my quest to reignite my spark of inspiration, I have been trying to make myself sketch more. Some people say its best to brainstorm, but I am trying a “sketch-storm.” I figure that if I can get something on paper, then maybe I can keep adapting to find a composition I am passionate about. In general, I have started with fanart. Ideally, I would really like to be working on some more original pieces that can go in my portfolio, but I figure just getting started might help first. I also want to target some skills I have been lacking on — like texture, dynamic composition, and perspective — and using a character or story I am already obsessed with can make skill-practice more entertaining for me.
As such, I have been working on some more fanarts for Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda. I have really wanted to create a drawing for Skyward Sword recently, so I worked on a few sketches based on that game. (Contrary to popular opinion, I absolutely adore Skyward Sword and want to profess my undying love for the game and its story with my art). With the new Ocarina of Time game coming out too, I had a few sketches that were more inspired by that game. For these sketches, I really focused on trying to achieve a certain powerful nobility, while also working in more dramatic perspectives. I tend to create a lot of drawings with straight-on perspective, and my art ends up feeling very flat. As I grow as an artist, I would like to be able to draw from more interesting angles, so I need to work on this now.
I also used the app “Magic Poser” for some of these poses. A toxic trait of mine, as an aspiring artist, is that I avoid using references. Part of my avoidance is that I get too caught up in the details, part of it is that I am a little lazy, and part of it is that I get anxious about copyright laws (even though I check, doublecheck, and triple-check the licensing of my references). However, my art suffers from not having accurate references. This time, I tried to make sure I was really looking at the references, as this would help anatomically, and with the intense perspective I was trying to introduce.
In general, these sketches came out okay, but I’m not sure any of them are really what I am looking for. I think they all need some work still, but I suppose that’s why they are just sketches.
Aside from these Legend of Zelda sketches, my sketch-storm has expanded to the annual tradition of Artfight! For those who are unfamiliar, Artfight is an online challenge and site that splits users into teams to trade art. Each user can create characters for those of the opposing team to draw. Drawing another person’s character counts as an “attack.” The user who is attacked can then counter the offense by drawing their foe’s character back! If you are interested in the challenge, you should check out their official website (seen in the link above), or check out Sarah McLain’s blog post about this from last year!
I have done Artfight once a couple years ago, but I did not get very far. This year, I am super excited to start and am hoping that by drawing some new and creative characters, that I might get some ideas of my own and kickstart some more creative inspiration. This year, my team is Tragedy. In addition to my other characters I will be putting up for the fight, I decided to create a new character for the theme. Right now, I am starting on some sketches, but I am thinking of creating an “Angel of Tragedy” or “Angel of the Fallen” sort of character. The idea is that this is an angel who has undergone tragedy, literally dragged down by her chains and broken wings. She is bloody, broken, and badgered — but her grace, beauty, and strength have only been made the fuller through such heartbreak. I am looking to create a character who looks the part of a wreck, but is truly a regal queen.
I am truly excited by this angel character, but she’s still looking pretty basic and underdeveloped. My composition is also pretty flat and unbalanced. (If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it). I think playing around with a halo and adding some more symbols of pain and burden could really elevate this design, but I’m not really sure where to start.
Overall, I am not really sure how much this sketch-storm has helped, but I am glad that I have at least gotten something out on paper (or, Photoshop, I suppose). I am truly excited to start Artfight, and I hope I am better about participating than I have been in years past.
I hope you have enjoyed this short exploration! As I struggle, please let me know how you’ve been finding inspiration for your art! Would you try a sketch-storm? Are you participating in Artfight? I’d love to hear all about it!
Until next time!
-Rebecca Prowse