Trying to reclaim my muse.............................

[CrownPrinceBandar]

When I was younger I used to draw all the time. I would literally fill sketchpads with my drawings (primarily pencil). Mostly it was Star Wars stuff, or other super-freaky sci-fi kind-of things. As I got older, I tended to move on to comic-book style art where I would put alot of emphasis on getting body proportions right, and I took a particular joy (and was complimented on)in my ability to work light and shading. This went on throughout the early years of college.

That's when it happened. My "muse" left me. Maybe the work-a-day world sunk in and the self-critical voices became too loud, but I have not put pencil to paper in a meaningful fashion since. Sure I still turn out some okay one-offs, but nothing I would call more than a doodle. But still I am amazed at the work I see other artists and friends producing, and it amplifies the grief of the loss of my inspiration.

I am 37 now and recently have been feeling the desire for creativity again. I say desire for creativity because that's about it. All desire, no inspiration and no fortitude to carry it through. Seems the more I want it, the more fleeting it becomes. A more vicious cycle one could not hope to find. But I guess that's the way it works.

Anyway, thanks for the space for my self-indulgence. Maybe y'all could share some anecdotes of inspiration so that those of us having trouble may be able to renew our faith in our own creative abilities.

CPB

[Longgrain]

1. I think I know how you feel...

I left art school around 1996, I barely painted, only drawing occationally, since...It actually was a litteral Muse that got me painting again. A woman I was friends with who had seen my older works and keep begging for new ones...

Last summer I fanally broke down and started painting again...not much but it was a start. I guess sometimes you just have to force yourself to do it, and consider yourself lucky if you have freinds to encourage you...:hi:

I'm hoping I'll be painting again soon...

[jdots]

2. when least expected the muse shows up,then splits

In today's anti art America the muse can be an answer to the negativity of the trend away from culture.Rule # 1 don't give a flying shit about acceptance do it for you.

[Lorien]

3. I wish I had the answer

you might try hypnosis to "unblock" your creativity. I'm thinking about it myself because I've heard that it works for some people.

I also lost my "muse" after college...actually, it was after I worked on the movie "Aladdin"; I had been away from my own personal style and using Disney's for several years, and the constant political BS of the studio was really wearing on me. I was fast, but there was always someone faster (I always got the more labor intensive characters, so there was no way I could compete as far as drawing counts went). Like you, I grew up drawing SF/ Fantasy stuff (lots of Star Wars too), and also some historical and wildlife themed art. I went to a fine art college at first, which frowned on my representational commercial work, so I went to a different college that was known for turning out great illustrators instead (still full of art snobs, though). My style was rather realistic, with a touch of art nouveau and N.C. Wyeth. Cartoons weren't an interest. But Disney was a steady paycheck and a good place to start, or so it seemed. It sucked the love of art right out of me. I'm still a professional artist (a girl's gotta eat), but I don't enjoy it. It's a job, and nothing more.

I was told by a hypnotherapist that even self hypnosis can help. You might check into some books on the subject.

[EC]

4. Sometimes I'll see a picture in the newspaper

or somewhere that just strikes me as unreal and I'll get the urge to paint it in my style. Or last week there was a picture in the paper of a snow formation and my imagination just took over and before I knew it I was drawing. Every once in a while I'll take out a pile of magazines and start cutting out colors and figures and mirrors or other reflections and then put them together as a college, and then do a larger painting of it. Most of the time if the Muse is gone, I'll read something and picture it in my mind...Give yourself an "assignment" maybe pick an artist you like and try immulating the style or do a self-portrait in an unusual way - like looking into a mirror with a mirror behind you and draw or paint the one in the second mirror. One time when I just could not get inspired I just did a series of my feet, when I look back at them, they weren't that bad, and I could see the I started getting into it after awhile. As one of my professors used to say, just draw anything and eventually you'll feel it coming...he was into dream drawings, he kept a sketchbook next to the bed and every morning when he got up - he'd draw the images he remembered from his dreams, and then he'd put them together in paintings. (Didn't like his stuff - it was too cliche' for me) but you just have to do it.