How to Find Your Inspiration
At 18 months old I’m already taking after my old man.
Who inspires you, where does it come from, and why is it important? We draw inspiration from people around us. As a child our first inspiration were probably our parents, grandparents, or caretakers. At the time we might have idolized Spider-Man or Luke Skywalker, but deep down we emulated a lot of what our parents did and this is because they inspired us and we wanted to become just like them in our own way. We draw inspiration from people around us and for the first part of our life our life is living with our parent figures.
As we grow a little older we start to grow up and away from our caretakers, and start to form our own opinions and start to choose inspiring people outside the family circle. As we are exposed to more and more and we are curious and interested in many different things. Our hobbies, skills, and friends dictate much of who we look up to. A teenager who is interested in music will look up to their favorite music artists and put posters and pictures of them on their bedroom walls. These will be real people who are relatable and within the realm of possibility of meeting one day.
Into adulthood our passions and interests are, for the most part, set into stone. The life we live starts to have rhythm and the activities we do narrows further. If we sit and think for a moment we can pick out a few truly inspiring people, whos work defines your interests for the most part. Without them you would not be who you are today.
Here we will find out who your inspiration is and why they are so meaningful to you.
Step One: Identify Who Inspires You
This part is pretty easy. You might already know who inspires you, but if you’re not sure, here are some things to consider: Think to something you watched, listened to, reacted to in a positive way that made you feel good, etcetera… It can be anything. It doesn’t have to be a painting if you’re a painter or a song if you’re a musician. One thing to keep in mind is that you are looking for the person behind the art that you respond to. For instance, you love to watch movies, so you find who directed your favorite film. Try to find 3 people of inspiration, you can write down.
Here is an example: My friend is a painter and he really loves poetry. He believes that poetry is the purest form of expression because it is like painting a picture in the mind. He reads poetry and other literature by Robert Frost on a weekly basis to keep his mind actively thinking and observing nature in a unique way. Poetry and Robert Frost has inspired him to become a better painter, to think differently about himself, and how he applies paint onto the canvas.
Step Two: Research Your Inspirational People
When you have a few names down take some time to research these people one by one. Discover what they are like as human beings. Watch videos on them speaking and making work. Read books written by them or about their life. Memoirs, journals, and (auto)biographies are a wonderful source of inspiration. Learn about their work ethic and how they became inspired themselves. Do they have favorite books, artists, music, or movies? There is a plethora of resources out there just waiting for you to learn about your inspiration and many artists are willing to share these personal things to people who are interested.
You might find that after you research your inspiring person that your beliefs don’t completely align. That’s okay. They are individuals who are entitled to their beliefs too, it doesn’t make their (or your) work bad. But If you are more comfortable choosing a new inspiration, by all means, do so. If you really want to find more about your inspirations you dig even deeper and discover who inspired your inspiration, and who inspired them, and so forth creating an inspiration tree with you as the center.
Step Three: Copy and Combine For Your Own Work
The first step in making art is to copy “the greats.” Every great artist starts somewhere, so now that you know who your inspirational people are you can start to emulate their style and their work. I’m not saying you should plagiarize the work of others, but you can draw reference from them, follow in their footsteps, and create unique work built upon the shoulders of the people you look up to. By doing your research on the people you are inspired by, you now have your own roadmap for success. How have you done this? If you take notes on how your inspirations’ work, you can take what you love about all them and combine it. Curate a soup of great ideas into your own master plan magnifique for a truly original and inspiring body of art.
Continue to Thrive
One thing to remember is that life and our inspiration is not static. It will be ever evolving as we develop as human beings. Years ago I looked up to the painters of old (I still do in a way), but now I look up to photographers. It’s just the frame of mind I am in today and now it’s who I want to become in the future. Find who you want to become and make that person your inspiration. Follow in their footsteps, grow like they did, make mistakes, get back up, and continue to climb the staircase to greatness!
Stairway to Five Mile Rock
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Fig 1. ©Sally Mann
https://www.beachamjournal.com/journal/2021/05/sally-mann-best-known-for-her-large-black-and-white-photographs-at-first-of-her-young-children-then-later-of-landsca.html