How to always be inspired to make art

As an artist, the worst thing ever is feeling stuck; you don't know what to do or where to go, and I'll tell you from my experience -- there's no way around it, nothing you can do, at least it's been a constant in my life so far.

What you can do something about is whether you produce any work and whether you're evolving as an artist.

In short:** never stop being busy & don't get stuck.**

Rules to live by

Some of these will be vague. It's hard to write concrete rules as these apply differently to different people.

  1. Make art regularly.
    It's easy to forget and before you know life has taken you by storm and you look back disappointed at what you've produced. So make sure to make it part of your day. Make something for a rule. A day is not over until you've at least made a little progress -- and it doesn't need to be much. Especially for a beginner, 30 minutes a day will quickly make you much better.

    how-to-be-inspired-to-make-art-make-art-regularly
  2. Evaluate what you love.
    Think about what art you love making and make sure in your head this is clear because you won't ever make art as good as the art about things you love. Don't be afraid to explore this space as well, think about other ways to portray it, and focus on different aspects.
    how-to-make-art-eveluate-what-you-love
  3. Make bad art.
    It sucks to make bad art, but the best it's a necessary evil. If you want to make good art, first you'll have to make something bad. A lot of artists might not show this part, but I think it's beautiful, sometimes more beautiful than any good art.
    how-to-make-art-eveluate-what-you-love
  4. Look at your art.
    And be critical, and be happy! Just don't forget to look at it. If you're merely having fun you can skip this rule, but that would be depressing. But if you want to grow as an artist you'll have to look at yours a lot, even after you're done making it look at it, what do you like about it? What do you hate? What do other people think?
  5. Study others.
    And not just another artist, just anything that might inspire you. Look at art, look at nature, look at the city. Go to a museum, browse social media, listen to music, anything to put some new ideas in your head.
  6. Seek what motivates you.
    Sounds simple enough, but it's easy to forget to do. And it works; live your life looking to be inspired, and inspiration will hit you over & over again. I'm willing to bet you that if you go outside wanting to find some motivation you'll quickly find more inspiration then you'll have time to spend on your ideas.
  7. Make many mistakes.
    Maybe you're way better than me. But to become better I have to make mistakes first. I want to make beautiful art, so when I find some technique that works, that makes art I love, it's very scary to choose and do something in which I might make a mistake. But if I never make mistakes my art will become stale, and unnecessary to make.
  8. Consider other mediums.
    It's easy to do what you're good at. And don't think I don't know it's fun too. But there are a lot of ways to make art, and experimenting with your medium can be just as fun and important as experimenting with techniques or topics. Different mediums excel at different things.
  9. Make making art easy.
    The easier it is to make art, the harder it will be not to make any on a day. Sometimes there's nothing you can do. But think about the space you use to make art, if you make it easy to start to make art, it'll be hard to make an excuse not to. It should never be frustrating to be able to get started working on your art. So invest time in making i
  10. Have fun
    The easiest way to stay inspired is to have fun. There aren't many days I'm not excited to make art. There's nothing in this world that excites me as much as thinking about how my art will change in the coming years. So do what makes you happy and you'll stay busy.

How to stay inspired

I'm just a human, and these suggestions will be very much so as well. But there might be a couple of tips in here you forgot, or you hadn't thought about. But everybody will sometimes feel uninspired and there's only so much you can do. Hopefully, you'll find something here though.

  1. Write down ideas and DO them!
  2. Consume art, in all ways.
  3. Explore different topics
    1. Your own life
    2. Nature
    3. Humans
    4. Architecture
    5. Music
    6. Movies
  4. Look for inspiration
  5. Force yourself to make something