Arcadia's Advice for the Starving Artist
Jun. 10th, 2005 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinclair_furieWell, Crystal has asked for my advice, and now that my muse is officially one of my multiple personalities, I thought I'd let her speak...
Being a muse is hard work. Mostly it involves telling people what they should already know, that inspiration can come from pretty much anywhere. This should be self evident, but instead I have to chase self-righteous artists convinced their problem is unique, covinced that nothing is good enough, especially not for them. Haughty things.
Anyhow, if you are an artist starved fo inspiration, listen, young padawan. Wracking your brain for ideas? Finding that everything you write/draw/photograph/etc comes out wrong? Maybe you just need a break.
Not from your work, of course, but try changing media. If you draw people, try doing an abstract. If you write long novels, do an experimental sketch of a minor character. If you photograph, stop for a moment and think about a random thing you've photographed. Write about it. That girl in that picture, what's her favourite color? What's her story?
Talk to interesting people. Shamelessly steal their cleverness and their charm and put it into your work. Try remaking an old piece from a different point of view, in a different media, in a different color scheme to get warmed up. Look around and capture random objects, people, situations, settings... This will get you started, and then, well, you'll be so far gone it won't matter anymore. If you're trying to do something specific, look at it from the point of view of someone else. Does it interest you because it's specific to your life? Because it's beautiful? Because it would shock your parents? Take things apart and find out what makes them tick.
And if you can't get it right, leave it alone, at least for a while. Nit pickers are the most annoying people. Ever.*
If you're still at a loss you're either very very stupid or very very bored. Schedule a special appointment with me, but remember that I require good tea and cake. And comfy chairs. Biscuits are good too.
*Except homophobes, fundamentalists and bratty children, who are annoying but also fill you with great violence.
Being a muse is hard work. Mostly it involves telling people what they should already know, that inspiration can come from pretty much anywhere. This should be self evident, but instead I have to chase self-righteous artists convinced their problem is unique, covinced that nothing is good enough, especially not for them. Haughty things.
Anyhow, if you are an artist starved fo inspiration, listen, young padawan. Wracking your brain for ideas? Finding that everything you write/draw/photograph/etc comes out wrong? Maybe you just need a break.
Not from your work, of course, but try changing media. If you draw people, try doing an abstract. If you write long novels, do an experimental sketch of a minor character. If you photograph, stop for a moment and think about a random thing you've photographed. Write about it. That girl in that picture, what's her favourite color? What's her story?
Talk to interesting people. Shamelessly steal their cleverness and their charm and put it into your work. Try remaking an old piece from a different point of view, in a different media, in a different color scheme to get warmed up. Look around and capture random objects, people, situations, settings... This will get you started, and then, well, you'll be so far gone it won't matter anymore. If you're trying to do something specific, look at it from the point of view of someone else. Does it interest you because it's specific to your life? Because it's beautiful? Because it would shock your parents? Take things apart and find out what makes them tick.
And if you can't get it right, leave it alone, at least for a while. Nit pickers are the most annoying people. Ever.*
If you're still at a loss you're either very very stupid or very very bored. Schedule a special appointment with me, but remember that I require good tea and cake. And comfy chairs. Biscuits are good too.
*Except homophobes, fundamentalists and bratty children, who are annoying but also fill you with great violence.
