Inspired after a Bittersweet Dream

I had this epic dream last night! I had a dream that I logged onto DA and found that I had recieved a Daily Deviation!! I was so freakin excited and honored....then i woke up

I think that may have been some kind of forshadowing cuz I got up and went to work but, since I was early, i hung out in Barnes & Noble as I always do. There, I found a great little quick read called "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon. It was really simplistic and straight to the point. and, as a personal favorite element, he used a ton of great quotes including a Bible verse! It was more like having a conversation with a really smart yet personable older artist friend. Someone who'd had a lot of experience but wasn't at all boastful about it.

here are a few tips the book had to offer (I took notes in my sketchbook ):

1. "There is Nothing New Under the Sun" Ecclesiastes 1:9
    "Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was  listening, everything must be said     again." - Andre Gide
    Basically, nothing we do in terms of art is original. The sooner we embrace that, the better. Because if we get hung up on trying to come up with something totally original, we'll only find frustration. Embrace influence! Plagiarism is directly taking the finished work of another and passing it off as your own. Influence is taking the idea and feeling behind a piece and interpreting it in the way you see it. What did it mean to you? We don't want to be our heros, we want to see like them.

2. "Fake it till you make it!" - we all start off copying other styles and feeling like we're ametuers. But, if you keep practicing and soon enough you'll be a real artist. Don't wait till you know who you are to start arting. It's in the act of creating that we find, if not create, ourselves.

3. All fiction is in fact, Fan Fiction! All art is fan art! We're inspired by what we see and thus make it our own through our art. As it said before, nothing is original, its all influenced by other people who were influenced by other people so on and so on all the way back to those who were inspired originally by God's creation! So basically, when you look at it, go back far enough and we're all copying God, the master artist!! (If you disagree with me, that's ok. This is how I enterpreted the book )

4. Don't write/draw what you think people want to see. Write/Draw what YOU would want to read or look at.

5. As wonderful as the computer is for art, be careful and take time to do traditional work as well. The computer has too many opportunities to hit the "Delete" button!

These are just a few things I got out of the book, and I didn't even get to finish it!
but man, its been a while since I felt truly inspired like this. I agreed with and was already doing a lot of the things he talked about, but to hear it like this and so straightforward inspired and encouraged me to keep going. It also opened my eyes to the idea of what exactly creativity is and that I shouldn't stress too much about being completely original. As long as I try to be creative and not plaigarise, but steal like an artist, be inspired and embrace that inspiration, I will be alright.

I know I've been doing a ton of fan-art lately, but i'm now inspired to take a break and make a picture in which I'm just inspired! doing it for me, not for profit (there was a chapter on personal hobbies and their positive impact on creativity too!)  I'll start sketching, thinking about what I like. For example, at work today, I doodled on a scrap of paper (I was ticket ripper on a slow day, I needed to do something!) and I just drew.  and I drew a bunch of animals and checker print!

ok, enough rambling for now. Just thought I'd share this with you all. (The book suggested this too! It's awesome!!)

Laix

P.S. If you have the time, would you vote on my latest poll? I need opinions Thanks!

P.P.S This was the picture that got a DD in my dream: ....*sigh* maybe someday. gotta stay hopeful