What Spurs Your Creativity?

I may be assuming things, but it seems like lots of ya'll are very creative and interesting individuals! Therefore, I'm a little curious to learn what types of things you guys like to do and what helps you do them! Do you draw? Do you write? Do you create music? Please elaborate on what kinds of projects you're working on!

And that's not all! Along with your personal projects, I would love to know what inspires you to actually do them! Do you have to listen to specific music (links please omg), look at certain art, read certain things? Do you plan things out with computer programs or do you write them down? Do you prefer working alone or does talking to others help you out? If you're fresh out of ideas, what helps you find more? (Once again, links are appreciated...I might be trying to steal some creativity here)

I will be eagerly awaiting some responses...

I'm one of those people that feels most creative when I'm very busy with other things If I have a few weeks off, I usually won't get anything done because of lack of inspiration.

I mostly draw, or I should say I used to mostly draw. I would like to get into writing again, I dabbled in it before and won a contest when I was a teen, but it's not feasible to combine it with my work at the moment. My dream would be to make a webcomic one day, so I'm playing with ideas for that in the back of my mind.

When I draw I like to listen to music. Not usually any particular bands or singers, I have this huge folder called 'random' with all sorts of music and I just shuffle that

@Epi
Unfortunately, I understand that feeling very well :c On the weekend days when I have the least amount of work I usually have the hardest time getting my personal stuff - it usually happens during the week.

Drawing and writing are also my go to activities, although I lean towards more drawing for free time stuff! Winning a contest sounds great, do you know what it was for? I also want to make a webcomic one day, but alas... xD

I agree, I also like to listen to music while I draw c: though I usually don't really focus on it too much so I usually just put a playlist on youtube on.

I think it's fair to assume that given what's been posted thus far on this forum ;P

I draw, I write...that's about it xD (I'm musically inept, but I CAN DREAM! lol ;o; ) For personal projects, it's nothing all too spectacular. I would like to do a children's book one day, a yaoi comic (hehe, yes), some novels, perhaps some tutorial books, idk. Maybe an art book when my shit isn't as shitty.

I'm not sure what inspires me, I usually have trouble with motivation, not inspiration. I like to keep a folder of artworks that I admire, I have an "inspiration" tag on my Tumblr where I collect stuff there too, and often watching TV shows or other medias gives me some ideas for pieces. I think what does help motivate me is that I run a YouTube channel which updates weekly, so I need to have something made every week. xD

I listen to music, podcasts, or play some TV shows or Netflix while I'm drawing xD I like having background stuff going on, even if I'm not paying attention to it. Wish I could do the same when writing, but the best I can do is play instrumental stuff. (Lyrics would distract me. Though sometimes, even instrumental stuff does too. In which case, I have a rain/storm sound MP3 that I put on, haha.)

@kami
heh of course not! I already know you have some projects going, so I'd love to hear more about what sorts of ways you inspire yourself xD

ooooooo yes yes, all the books man! no limits as to what kind I suppose XD An art book would be super awesome, I'm hoping one day people enjoy my art enough to buy one xD

I'm the same, motivation is harder for me to grasp than inspiration... they are sort of two separate things aren't they? xD

But yeah, having a channel that updates weekly definitely is inspiration to do something! that's a good schedule to be on honestly. And i'm the same way with music, it's hard to work with words when you hear words, so instrumental stuff is best for writing c:

@Choco Probably seeing tutorials and prompts help me. I follow loads of art channels on YT too.

I have too many ideas lol. I'm all over the place XD I feel like it'd be a few more years before I'm close to producing an art book. I know I'll never be 100% satisfied with my works, but I don't really have anything worthwhile for an art book atm, haha. Hopefully you'll be able to make one too!

I'm just so lazy ;o; LOL

I might even be switching to two videos a week. Oi. For someone who is so lazy, I have no idea why I keep piling on more and more work for myself.

@chocoshrooms: It was a short story contest at the local uni. It was kind of a big deal for me because I was only 16 and the runner-up was 26, because it was aimed at students XD But after that I've never really written anymore. It was nice to do once, but I don't really have the patience for writing. While when I'm drawing, I can take hours and it won't bother me.

@kami: A yaoi comic? That should be fun XD
I'm pretty impressed that you managed to keep up with your channel, that's really good practice! If you can manage that, one day I'm sure you'll manage an art book too.

@Epi Congrats on the win, that's really cool Best of luck doing a web comic too. Advice I keep hearing from every successful web comic artist is to just start. If you keep waiting until you're "better at drawing" or whatever other excuses, you'll regret not starting it sooner.

That's why I should just do my yaoi comic xD I was wanting to wait until I had more time to make a more refined decent looking version, but why not have my first one be sketchy and crappy, amiright? And thanks! It's a ton of work, but it's fun and people seem to enjoy it, so that helps One day I'll have an art book, haha. ONE DAY! xD

@Kami: Maybe when Kasaria opens, there can be a Kasaria art book, with art from the players. Pet sites always seem to attract artists

@Choco: Aaaah, I love you siggy, I just noticed it. So cute.

@Epi Kasa themed, of course

@Choco Oh, I just noticed the new siggy too, so cute!!!

@Kami
Ohhhh yes tutorials are a huge help, although sometimes I can be too stubborn and insist on creating things on my own x'D this sort of...leads to making things harder.

Ahh but thank you <3 I hope I can get to making an artbook one day, although i'm currently focused on other projects c; like an actual book!
and if you are up for two videos a week, I say go for it! updating a channel frequently is usually what gets it famous u v u

@Epi
Ooooo that's still awesome that you won! Congratulations u v u ! I can understand that though, writing can be kind of tedious at times. I feel the same way about drawing too though. I mean, I don't get bored, I just usually get frustrated at the amount of work ahead of me... :u

and thanks both of you, I love my siggy too <3 The artist who drew them is amazing ; A ;
and gosh, a Kasaria art book would be a REALLY fun project... I might have to discuss this idea with pepper! It would be fun to do one once a year and get in new artists each time uvu

@Choco LOL SAME HERE! It's like, often times I refuse to look up how to do something or read instructions and I'm almost always like "omg y not work GRR (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻"

Oooh, a book book Good luck with that ^^
I'm testing the waters, we'll see how it goes, haha.

They've got amazing stuff on their FA Thanks for sharing them!
An annual event could surround it too. I'd probably pick a time where people would be mostly-ish available, so the summer might work best. But I'll leave the deets up to ya'll to work out if you decide to do it xP

@kami
exACTLYYYY that's me so much with my art because I'm so deadset on drawing everything myself and not using lots of brushes but honestly it only hinders me X'D

thank you! ehhe we'll see yeah. I have a lot of focus on in school right now so I haven't been writing as much as I should be c':

yeah they do! they're one of Pepper's friends from art college, surprise surprise! they're so talented!!
Oh yeah, that would be awesome! Kasaria has sort of a nature-y, Earth day vibe, so it would be fun to do something involving that if that's sort of the idea. It's possible submissions could be open around summer and then the following Earth Day the book would come out, since books take a while to put together anyway!
But yeah. This isn't even official. I just get excited. X'D Pardon my planning.

@Choco Hahhaaaaaaaaa orz x'D I really need to just slap myself sometimes. I find such helpful things too! I just watched a bit of a tutorial on how to draw hands and it was AMAZINGLY HELPFUL.

Aw yeah, school can do that :c But hey, school can be fun sometimes too c:

Oooh neato!
That sounds like a great idea to tie them together! Haha, no worries on the non-official planning, glad you're excited ^^

@Kami
saaammee sammmeee. i have no discipline. but ooooo a tutorial for hands... very helpful e v e

yeah, i have fun in my classes currently, as they're mostly creative writing classes, but it does make it hard to work on personal projects.

yeah! u v u ehheh of course!

@Choco It was from Sycra on YT, which I always recommend to everyone because he is amazing x'D

Creative writing classes, that sounds neat! I never had the option of taking those since no school I ever went to had any x/ So lame. Everyone was essays, research crap, blah blah. I'm glad it's been fun for you though!

@kami
i'll have to check him out!!! that would be inspiring for me cx !!

Yeah, they're really great! I honestly never had the option to take them until now because it's for my creative writing degree. My high school didn't offer them. I do have a few literature and literary analysis classes right now, but they're WAY better than high school english (and essay/research based english courses)

@Choco Yessssssss do it x3

Ooooh that's so awesome! I'm glad it's available for you Super lame that high schools don't have a wider variety of stuff, but that's a whole different problem entirely, haha.

@Kami
I shall, I shall! (after i'm done procrastinating hehh)

Yeah, i'm glad it is too! I wish it was more available in high school education though, it's important to take a wide variety of electives around that time (at least, I think so)

@Choco Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (haha yeah, I feel that XD)

Right? You'd think that for all this pressure to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives, people would try to help us get ideas of what we're interested in xP

@kami
procrastination is all i do man.

yeah there's no doubt the education is a little messed up and contradicts itself... : P hopefully schools can get better in the future tho?

@Choco
Haha, I'd high-five you, but I'll do it later

Hopefully. Given that the younger generations are screaming for it, it'll surely happen sometime soon.