How do you get your ideas?

[Rydin]

Oh my god mccow, that's awesome! 

Yeah, I forgot to mention music....lots of qotsa & family, floyd, and wolfmother lately.

[Akzidenz]

You have your Dada history a little confused.. but then again, I think the Dadaists would've preferred that.

Look at early futurism (Marinetti and Boccioni are my favorites), it's brilliant stuff that the Dadaists admitted ripping off.

[Rydin]

Well its more of a "how do you get your ideas" thread then a history thread, so meh.  I do acknowledge futurism, I just prefer dadaism.



and to get back at Mc Cow Twenty Eight:




EDIT:
Also, just thought of this: sleep deprivation is a killer inspiration, though I think it kinda fits in the 'drugs' catagory....
(Okay, sorry, I'm done now )

[Alex]

Alex (clr)

awww, you arouse me so. we oc asap bish.

[miascugh]

Drugs (in massive amounts) and baby sandwiches are the only thing you get to eat at art school. And yoghurt.

I find tractor rides to be rather deliriating and inspiring. That is, the real deal, back and forth, to and fro on the field. Work that SOIL! Dig deep with your plow to make way for the seedz!

Then draw.

[big brother]

For those intimidated by massive amounts of drugs, I'd recommend varying amounts and types of drugs.

The "copying guinea pig friend's ideas" is interesting, but it adds another layer to your perception, obfuscating the mind's eye.

[.TakaM]

I don't really do much 'abstract' pixel art, a lot of mine is game orientated, so I guess I don't have a very wide range of things that motivate me, but the things that do:
my experiences firstly
video games, music and movies
and since I think I enjoy making tiles and tiling the most, the country I live in 
Ive said before, I don't have to walk very far to see some nice 'level design' 

Ive lately become quite aware I need to find a good source of inspiration to come up with ideas for character design, just ideas for what garbs them- so if anyone has some place that could help with that, much appreciated 

[snake]

I look at everything with some aesthetic quality. Usually, I find looking at what people would genuinely find ugly or unfinished to be very inspiring, as you get ideas on what you could do with the potential of that art. I check my old art doodles as well to get a boost of confidence, but also because the abstract ideas in children's drawings tend to wake an idea.

One of the best pieces of advice I've heard in the case of having an art block, needing to work or getting an idea is this: Put youself in a room with nothing in it. Face a plain wall or something to that extent. The lack of distractions will make you do two things. First you'll start to think about anything and everything. After that you'll feel the need to do something. If you've got a pencil and paper at the ready you're bound to start doodling something good after just a few minutes. The times I get the most ideas and draw the most are during the boring parts of classes. Only when the situation allows it of course.

[miascugh]

Provided you have such a room, and have the self-controll not to leave the room out of boredom (I know I am very restless). But I was actually serious about the tractor thing, it is quite a similar situation, being confined to this cabin, not having much to do other than turning around every 5 minutes. I get lost in my thoughts a lot while doing that, getting random ideas and pictures which I then try to realize as soon as I'm done.

[ptoing]

Haha, mia, I know what you mean, when I was younger I helped driving tractor at a friends farm when we layed out irrigation pipes. Same goes with when we went houseboating on a channel in france and we had to go through locks A LOT and they were all manual and were apart like 5 minutes, in some cases it was easier just to walk next to the ship on the riverside to the next lock then getting back on board

Stuff like that purges the brain from shit and you come up with good ideas in the process if you let the mind linger.