Every month members of
, an international group of illustrators, all answer the same question about our work and in September that question is “Where do you find inspiration as an artist”.Most of the time it doesn’t take much to get inspired if you have a curious mind and a phone in your pocket (and you don’t mind getting down on your knees in public to take a picture of that beautiful little bug under the café table).
Taking pictures has always been my favourite way of collecting interesting details, colour palettes and textures I find on my daily walks. Back in the day I would tuck a little Canon ixus digital camera in my purse but nowadays a smart phone is an even greater tool plus we are certain to carry it around whenever and wherever, unlike a sketchbook.
I will often take pictures of a particularly interesting leaf or flower, an iron gate or a weathered old wooden door, a beautiful colour palette on a product package at the grocery store, I will look for shapes in the clouds to later draw over in Procreate or I might secretly snap a picture of people walking by if they seem like potential characters in my future picture book 😀
To illustrate what I mean, here are some pictures from my camera roll, taken over the summer, all in a span of less than 50 days:
From left to right, top to bottom:
Oleander on the Mediterranean coast. I just love these blossoms and their most yummy shade of pink
A vintage coffee tin at my mother’s. That car could be filled with a family of very distinguished badgers, on their way to a Sunday picnic
Interesting colour palette in my phone’s browser, a result of a very slow wi-fi at my mother’s - I was googling for an e-reader device
A nice illustration style on a packaging of tea bags, 1001 cvet, Slovenia
A cloud shaped like a … dancing lobster?
A handmade toy, placed on a window sill in the street of Ljubljana. I posted that photo and the location of the plushie on a website for lost and found objects - I hope the doggie and the heartbroken child it belongs to are reunited by now. A picture book idea?
My best friend’s summer wardrobe - I just thought her palette and the fabrics were fabulous
A girl in the waiting room - I want to draw that yellow jacket with stripy lining on a bear. Or perhaps a bunny
And another picture book scene, a yellow tabby in the window of a yellow house in Venice.
Speaking of Venice,
I will write a detailed report of my recent weekend in Venice in my next post, a stay that was packed with inspiration, including a shop, selling hand-crafted Carnevale masks and cloaks …
Check out some of Illoguild members’ thoughts on inspiration in the links below, there are loads of tips and prompts for you to start creating!
Thank you for reading and I’ll see you next time!
x Damjana
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