Inspiration 2.0: Improving Creative Work With Web Tools
by Celine Roque
I’ve never been a strong believer in “inspiration” or an artistic muse. For me, creative work such as writing, illustration, and graphic design requires a lot of hard work that goes beyond the finished product. Getting the work started, however, can be a problem, but not because your muse is taking a vacation. Usually, you just need something to stimulate the right side of your brain.
My biggest source of inspiration comes from visuals. When I’m having trouble with a blog post, I usually look for a stock photo over at sxc.hu to accompany the post before I’ve even finished writing it. I find that having visual cues are a great way for me to get work started.
Even if my written work isn’t accompanied by photos, it helps to look at something that is visually parallel to what I’m trying to achieve with words. This is where services like elements and tools like the StumbleUpon toolbar come in.
If it’s the actual article topics that I’m having trouble with, Big Huge Labs has an app called Blog Post Ideas, which generates user-submitted post topics that you can start with. But you shouldn’t take these suggestions to literally as some of them can be too generic (“Write about what you think about the world”) or not applicable to all blogs (“What was the definitive album for you in each decade that you’ve been alive?”). It should be used as a way to kickstart your brainstorm rather than taking an easy shortcut.
For visual artists, it might be easier to start thinking about basic elements first, such as color. Colour Lovers serves as a handy tool for sharing and viewing different color palettes inspired by nature, art, pop culture, and so much more.
Are there any web tools that help bring in some inspiration to your creative work? Share them with us in the comments.
