As a practitioner of the creative arts, inspiration accounts for 80% of the final product. 20% of it is good ol’ fashion elbow grease hard work.
I’m constantly on the lookout for anything that might peak my visual interests, places like Abduzeedo, along with ffffound and numerous feeds in my Google Reader. (If you’d like a comprehensive list, leave a comment with your email address and I’ll send you one).
I’m always looking at textures on the side of buildings, street signs, company logos. Anything to get my mind jogging and thinking in a new perspective. I’ll turn my head to the side to look at something. I’ll lower my body to get a closer look at flowers, animals, or the chewed-up-spit-out gum.
There’s also another reservoir for creativity, my past. Feelings, emotions, memories from days past. Sounds I might have heard when I was 7 while at the park flying kites with my little sisters.
Where do you get your source of inspiration? Are you a process oriented person who uses the process to spur on inspiration? Are you methodical? Go-with-the-flow kind of creative? Are you one of those people who can just turn it on, and let it fly?
Christians, do you pray routinely before starting a project? During the project? After the project has been complete? Do you allow the Bible to speak to you visually to gather inspiration?
I know that Ephesians 4:11-13 doesn’t explicitly say that Christ posited the position of Creative in the job equipping list, but I’d wager (if I were a betting man) from Exodus 31 that God did indeed have in mind creativity as a spiritual gift. This, to me, gives me greater inspiration and hope that what I do isn’t for vain/naught. What God has given as a spiritual gift is for the unification of the church until the Lord returns to Earth, and I believe every word of that.
So what is your inspiration? Leave it in the comments.
