Finding Inspiration - Part One of People & Nature

Okay...follow me on this one.

Sidebar: Whether you're writing a new short film/feature film, painting, drawing from life or trying to capture a moment to paint - it's hard!! Inspiration doesn't always flow. Sometimes your creative tanks are drained or worse - clogged. At least when your drained you can walk away, rest or do something else and come back to it. When you're in a creative block- you have never felt so helpless! There is nothing you can do to bring it back at will, you have to wait for it to hit you again. That might be a few hours or a few days! And forcing yourself never helps because if you produce something worse than you hoped it only pushes you further down the hole your attempting to crawl out of! Does any of this sound familiar?

Humans:




Thank you to Prasad for the video!

 You ever go into a coffee shop, sit alone and just people watch? Listen to others pleasant conversations? Bouncing your eyes and ears to people in the room?

Now..Have you ever walked up and just talked to someone? Any random stranger in that coffee shop? I recommend you do.

My favorite stories I love to hear, and it wasn't until recently I realized I enjoyed it, are the life stories of other people. How they got to where they are and where they plan to go from there. I touched on this in the podcast section and it still does apply because the SOURCE of the inspiration is still humans.

I have met artists who have said they NEVER hit creative roadblocks. And I'm sure they have never made a bad drawing before either. Sad to say the rest of us are just human. We struggle on occasion.

Have no fear. For your cure for Humanism is......more humans. Or can be at least. Sometimes watching a flick can be instantaneously inspiring if you see something that sparks a feeling you've had before and didn't know how to adapt it but NOW you do! The same can happen when talking to your fellow human.

This is why I recommend strangers. They are an unknown story to you. They are the breath of fresh air everyone talks about. No matter WHO it is, everyone has an interesting story. Some people have gone through many of the same things we are currently going through in our lives. They might just have the right advise in store for you. Most have overcome great odds to make their dreams happen. Sometimes hearing what it was that they sacrificed to get to where they are is awe-inspiring of itself and will begin to put things in perspective in your own life. It is in these moments that artists and authors pull from to create their next great thing. Every filmmaker and writer will tell you how they adapted stories from their own life experiences (or that of a close friend). These themes we love to resonate with are based off true events. They happen! The stories are out there.

So next time you're out in public, talk to someone who has a moment and ask about their lives. You might hear about a grand adventure. You might just make a new friend. You might find a mentor. You might just find that inspiration you were looking for!



On the flip side of this coin talking to friends and family can reinvigorate what makes you YOU. You as a creative mind or artist are naturally filled with imagination and decent ideas that can be molded into great ideas. Talking with my friends we constantly play jokes off one another and run with it. We have such great times laughing about nonsense until one of us falls over from not being able to breath. During some of these talks an idea will present itself. When I start story-vomiting out loud to them, they all start pitching in more ideas or ways the story can be branched out. It's incredibly fun, natural and inspiring.
Even my brother sometimes will say something stupid enough that it makes a brilliant idea for a rough animation short.

So if you can't get over this block in your head. Put the pen down, put the brush down, put the laptop away, and go sit in front of someone. Connect to your fellow man. Be human again for but one minute.