anyone else get that thing where you really really really want to create (pics, write, whatever) but have NO INSPIRATION WHATSOEVER?!?!?! maybe not a fascinating thing to discuss but i wondered if anyone else lives in frustration for months and months in a row like me. even in the middle of the block episode if i actually make something and wonder of wonders it's actually good (us. isn't unless in artistic mode), i get no enjoyment out of it. oh well. i'll get out of my slump eventually . . .

I know what you are talking about. I have only been able to submit three pics. I have also have had no time at all either. Good luck.

Just *make* without thought about whether it's good or not. The more you do, the more likely one thing will be good. Then that reveals interests/talents/audience reaction that *works*. Then you will find you will be more inspired. Inspiration comes after experimentation. For every pic I post there are 10 I don't.

Same here Mum. Boredom is a great thing to help you create; even if you make crappy images it's more fun than doing nothing... and sometimes you just might end up with something interesting.

that's very true. usually i can just create without thinking. it just comes. so when someone says 'that is so good!' i feel really weird cuz i felt like i made it but not like i tried. it just flowed down the back of my brain out my fingers. however i've been depressed lately and anyone who has the medical condition of depression like i do can attest to the fact that pretty much even automatic things stop. oh well, i'll pull out, i always do . . . though i think i'm bipolar . . . right now i can't stop bouncing my leg wildly and am in some sort of overloaded exuberant mood . . . it happens sometimes . . .

Personaly I do my best work when I can't sleep.

I agree with the "just-keep-at it-philosophy" - example - always take a small sketchbook - artbook with you and nice pen(more reliable - nicer to work with.) and scribble, doodle, write whenever and wherever the notion takes you. I often use my art diaries as reference when I'm feeling uninspired - I'm drawing on my own ideas and materials when I need too. Also - don't set out to make a "finished work" that will look stunning, just see where your ideas take you.

I've got another problem. I want to create things, images. But one, i don't have the time. and 2, I really really don't have the skill to create them.

But its so annoying because the ideas are flowing thick and fast.

I've had the same problem. Only, it's not much with photos (because that, I just haven't had time to take shots with my own film-working as a PR photographer and a sports photographer for school eats away at time spent on your own film). It's more with my paintings I have to create in my painting class. I'm an art major, and for once, I have no idea about what direction I want to go in. It's very frustrating. We are supposed to keep an art journal for painting, and fill it with ideas. So far, most of my idea have been for drawings (and that's only about 10 pages these past couple of months!) instead of paintings.

Raziel - I believe we all have the skill - you have the hardest part - ideas!!! Just keep at it. Nontoxic - keep that diary - try to do *something* every day - it will get easier, I promise. Try looking up 'visual journal' on google for links to some fantastic ideas on the net - inspired me to do something (almost) everyday!

That art diary thing is a good idea. I always have a small notebook and something to write with--most of my spur-of-the-moment inspiration comes in the form of poetry--but I also have trouble with ability. I can write till the world transmutates into plasmoidal ooze but I sometimes get the coolest pictures in my head and I have fairly good quality sketching and painting materials, but my fine hand-coordination isn't that great. I'm not sure I understand it, because even though it's been a while since I've practiced I spent several years playing the piano and the flute and was pretty good at it. You can't do that without fine hand AND finer finger coordination. But I keep hitting the wrong keys on the keyboard and can't paint worth spit. Part of the reason I have a hard time coming up with stuff to draw/paint is that the best ideas I have I know I can't do and I don't even want to try until I get good enough to really do them well. Who wants to wreck their best ideas with bad execution? That's why I started to get interested in cgi--you don't need hand/finger coordination as long as you can use the mouse/keyboard. The only problem is money. Who can afford software thats a thousand bucks a pop?! I'm a poor college student! The only reason I can pay for school is my grandmother and dad (who's now dead, yay, that really has a lot to do with the current discussion) have/had an account they built up for years for my brother's and mine college. Otherwise I'd be flipping burgers ten hours a day and no school. But with no reasonable medium for my internal images it is SOO FRUSTRATING!!!!!!! Makes me want to spit. And the most annoying thing is, if I have inspiration for something, esp. a poem, but pics too, if I don't get it down right off I'll most likely lose it. If I try to recreate it later all I get is something way different that usually royally sucks. I had this cool poem about three years ago but I was walking through downtown Denver at night between the Arts Complex and The Cheesecake Factory (school field trip--saw Hamlet and had dinner--yay! that was sooo fun! best play I ever saw! i don't get too excited about food, but it was fun to go to dinner w/my friends) which even in that huge group (my whole school--including teachers/chaperones it was about fifty people--small private school) isn't very safe, so I couldn't stop and write it and all I could remember even a little later the same night was something about the universe seen out through my eyes. never could get it *sob*. I still get choked up about that. (not really. i'm waxing super-hyper.) aaaaaaaaaaaaanyway what were we talking about? oh! art blocks and lacking ability to express our inspiration! hey, I remembered without checking!

but you know it seriously can upset me. i have such awesome images in my head. some have been waiting around for years. literally. the only reason i remember them is because i keep thinking about them. there's a bunch i lost.

One thing I always thought would be fun if I could ever get good enough at drawing/painting and if I could get permission with the paper-pushers is draw or paint scenes from books or movies or video games or what-have-you. Why movies or video games when they're already visually there? Well, you see, there's this thing in my head that wants to express my interpretation of things. It is my belief that a lot of good art--not all, understand--is when the artist sees something in the world and expresses it not as it is in and of itself but how he perceives it. Also, there are sometimes implied events in storylines that aren't always shown. And also, with things like The Lord of the Rings and
Star Wars, there are books, movies, video games, and quite a few other mediums which don't always coincide--I'd like to meet them in the middle. eg, take a scene from the LOTR book that wasn't in the movie but paint/draw it in the style of the movie. I've dreamt up just how I'd make a bunch of things like that.

Have you ever thought of making or tried to make something from the Lord of the Rings movie like the eye of the volcano thing or a 3D effect of the ring or hobbit tunnel or there house prairie? If you know how to do that it would be really cool. I also thought that you could possibly do a 3D heart for Valentines. What do you think? Write me PM and tell me. i would do some thing like that only if I had a 3D program. :)

there are several LOTR images on the site. Just browse the permanent 3d galleries

darkaliryn7_1
Worry less about preconceived images being able to be created.
Leonardo Da Vinci spent ages in the plazas searching for the *perfect* face models for Jesus and Judas for his "Last Supper" fresco. He was never satisfied, even after finally completing the image. The fresco, however, began to decay within a few short years, because of his lack of practical experience with frescos, and his determination to bend the media to his idea. He didn't "respect" his materials. He put ideas over the physical reality of his work, and blew it. My advice is, accept that no matter WHAT you create, it will take a lot of creating before your abitity to direct your fine motor skills become intuitive and not forced. If you think back, all that musical ability you speak of relied on practice. "Those who never make mistakes rarely make anything at all". Da Vinci was a perfectionist, but he had also painted his whole life and was over 40 when he went searching for those perfect faces. He had the street cred, but it was still a futile search. Have respect for your materials. Learn to discover what they can teach you, before you try to control them.
Be humble and one day something you create (when you are least ready for it) will be magical.

Hey . . . thanks. Your encouragement means a lot. I'm stubborn but I'm really inclined to think about what you said. You're right that the piano & flute took practice; I guess I tend to forget that since I started them so young (piano at six, flute at nine). "He put ideas over the physical reality of his work, and blew it." That sounds like what I'm heading toward; but you know, I think I can leave the "ideas over the physical reality" to my writing. I've done the preconceived ideas all the time there. I guess I got a lot of practice since I've rarely had my nose outside a book since I was five or six . . . and maybe I can do the preconceived ideas in writing because I did get a lot of practice. Maybe I should just let my painting/drawing happen, is what you seem to be saying. I think you're right. Thanks for telling me all this awesome stuff. I think it can help me a lot.

*blushes*
good.

yay! I haven't found a mutual admiration society since~~since~~okay, never.

All right, exuberance over. I have to go find out where they keep the paintbox on windows xp.