Oh inspiration! You slippery, silly little thing you. How much easier our lives would be if you were where we last left you, if you would come when we called, and if you would connect the dots the way we wanted you to.
Do these thoughts sound familiar?
Living in the wake of the Information Age we have imagery and ideas at our fingertips simply by clicking a button. How many times are you putzing around the web when you stumble across something interesting that just might be the missing piece for artwork you are working on? Or what about this scenario - how many times are you searching online when you stumble across something that is simply, well, cool, and you want to remember it?
Pop quiz hotshot - what do you do next?
a) bookmark the page
b) save the file
c) print it out
d) make a mental note
e) two words: post its
All good strategies - but how often will that information actually be there when you need it - later?
For ideas to be useful we have to have a system in place to capture them (corralling) and also to recall them (capturing).
Creating inspiration boards is a useful strategy which meets both goals and provides the additional benefit of providing you with an aesthetic inventory, or "big picture" of connections to images and ideas you may not have seen otherwise. Before you begin your own, let's dive deeper into the topic by checking out the powerpoint below.
Sounds great, but, how do I get started creating my own inspiration board?
2. You can also use the moderately old-fashioned way - digitally editing images seperately and putting them into one final document (a bit tedious, but provides a lot of creative control).
3. Powerpoint is an easy way to create a digital inspiration board. See this post.
4. Blogs can provide a great online repository for saving images that you find interesting. Here is a great example.
5. There are several websites and applications online which you can also use to create moodboards/inspiration boards. Here are a few of my favorites:
So, what are you waiting for? Begin corralling all of those post its and renegade jpg files and make them into something great! Let me know if you have other strategies or resources which you find helpful by posting to the comments below.
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