Written by Campbell Turner
Published on: 2024-10-02
People always tell you to touch grass, but they never say where. This is a blog post giving one idea of an inspiring place to go.
For future reference, in this series when I refer to creatives, I am also talking to people who would not be considered artists, for example, programmers since I believe that there's still a lot of creativity that goes into programming and software engineering. Otherwise things like code golf, for example, just wouldn't exist nor would there be an entire language called chef where you can try to make edible recipes that are also pieces of functional code. Also, while this is easier to do for traditional artists, there is a substitute that exclusively digital artists and the aforementioned programmers can do which is going to a makerspace where there are arduinos,3D printers, extra monitors, etc.
As creatives, it’s very easy to get in the zone and have spent pretty much all of your free time inside cooped up inside. However, this is not a great thing for you in the long term, physically, mentally or creatively. After all, there has to be a push and pull of creativity where or consumption and creation fuel each other. When most people think of methods of consumption to get inspiration, they think of watching shows or movies. However, there are other methods that can give you the same inspiration without the subscription fee: going out and experiencing things. While everyone will have different preferences on where to go, I’d like to suggest a place you probably go often: the art store.
For some of you this will be the excuse you’ve been waiting for to finally buy that brush set or get that new set of paints that you definitely don’t need but looks so good. However, there’s value to being in an art store even if you don’t buy anything, to the relief of our bank account balance. Firstly, even just seeing different types of supplies can greatly inspire you. For example, if I’m having a bit of trouble, one of my favorite things to do is look at color names. After all that gives you something really quick to draw robin’s egg blue. Try using that blue to paint a robin’s egg. Then let your mind wonder, “What other types of eggs can I create?”. Let it drift from all kinds of bird eggs in real life to fantasy birds and/or sci-fi birds and then to what other things hatch from eggs. Similarly, taking the time to really look at the packaging for certain art supplies. I find colored pencil boxes especially good for this, but that’s just my preference.
Another thing that’s great about art stories is that there are people there. People means conversations. Now, I don’t mean that you should be bothering everybody in the store and talking a mile a minute. But having even one small conversation with somebody can be all the boost you need to getting that spark back. Obviously the easiest people to talk to are the art store employees. Although not always true, often when somebody’s working at an art store, they’re an artist in some way, shape, or form. And one of the easiest conversation starters for just about any artist that you want to talk to is, “What are you working on?”. This usually makes the person light up and go on for a little bit about what they’re getting supplies for. For example, maybe somebody’s doing a project Catholic light categorizing different parts of their lives like retelling it through a different medium. Maybe you want to do the same thing because you’ve had a particularly interesting life so far. Another thing could do is asking what somebody is afraid of doing or an art supply/art media that they’re afraid of diving into. If you’re wanting to try something completely new you could an art hack they found or their favorite techniques with their tools of choice. While there are lots more great places to go if you’re feeling uninspired, a good starter place is the art store since you most likely go there often.