What Resources Do You Use To Feed Your Muse?

[NotKnowing]

Share your favorite:

- Books

- Music

- Videos/Clips

- Audio programs

- Films/Documentaries/Movies

- Quotes

- Pictures and Images

- Forums (example: GetMotivated subreddit)

- Video programs

- Seminars

- TV Shows/Anime

- Speeches

- Any other medium I haven't mentioned.

Let's get some ideas rolling. ☺

 

Edited February 8, 2016 by Tristan Dagatan

[NotKnowing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC_1zmCZVXQ

[Mia]

I didn´t quite understand your question: do  you mean what inspires creativity or just in general what has left an imprint?

[Leo Gura]

For me:

• Nature
• Sex
• Contemplation
• Long road trips by myself
• Relaxing in a bathtub/hot-tub
• Deep conversations with people
• Art
• Museums
• Travel
• Slowing down the pace of my workday
• Meditation

[Robert]

Since I want to work in the comic book industry one day, the best things I use to feed my muse are stuff related to fictional worlds. So anime/cartoons, manga/comics, art, books, movies, and video games are usually what help me the most. I use almost all of the resources you listed, though.

[Leo Gura]

@Robert One thing to keep in mind about that. If you want to do great, original work in any industry, you won't do it by merely feeding off works of that industry or similar industries alone. Great artists tap into totally new sources that no one in their industry would ever consider. In other words, they are truly creative, not merely derivative.

So for example, if you work in the comic industry, and you tap a source like ballet or gardening or fishing, your work will be more original than if you only read other comics all the time and watch movies. Everyone trying to break into the comic industry reads comics and watches movies. That's all they know. That's the path of least resistance. So they will mostly all be cookie-cutter and few of them will ever make anything original. Someone who reshapes the future of comics will draw his inspiration from a totally new source. He's the one who'll be thinking outside the box.

If you work in comics and your top sources are:

• Batman
• Superman
• Aliens
• Terminator
• Starwars
• Lord of The Rings
• Isaac Asimov
• Elderscrolls
• etc.

Then what original work will come of that? Everyone in that industry is the same!

These are my insights from working in the video game industry, where people are so cookie-cutter and derivative it's sad. Orcs, goblins, dragons, elves, robots... shoot a goul in the face... It's all they know.

[Robert]

@Leo Gura Yeah, I came to that conclusion years ago. Most of what you see in comics and manga is the same recycled fantasy and superhero crap. Trust me when I say this: although I still use stuff like Lord of The Rings to feed my muse, I look to a lot of other things when it comes to actually writing stories.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Robert

[Budapp]

@Leo Gura I also want to be part of the comic industry some day. I'm an artist and I like creating stories and characters so I think comics would align with these values but there's something holding me back which is this fear that comics are just 'chimpery'. Do you think so too, or do you think that comics can be considered works of art?

[Helena4]

• Walks outside - gloomy or sunny, preferably gloomy
• Really long baths.
• Music - at the moment I am really really inspired by the Smiths - they really strike a chord with me. I also like Envy, Number Girl, Kraftwerk, The Prodigy, Savages (who have an interesting concept, as sound-makers, of silence being the most important thing ), Shiina Ringo, Kendrick Lamar, Chelsea Wolfe, David Bowie. 
• Stuff that's happening around me... contemplating that and my emotional responses.
• Sometimes reading. I read The Catcher in the Rye recently and I found that provided me with stuff to think about.
• Even more rarely, because I don't watch many, films. Mostly small French/Japanese films. Some really good ones were In the House (or Dan's la Maison) - which is about writing and blurring lines between fantasy and realit, which is a great concept to explore; Blue is the Warmest Colour - which was very much an emotional rollercoaster more so than any media I've ever consumed before and left me thinking a lot, which is helpful; Harmful Insect - I don't know what to say about this but it left me feeling a certain way...
• Oh and TV... the only TV programme I think has ever inspired me is Hannibal... it's just so dark that it sticks in your mind.
• Anime/manga... I'm sure you already know about them but the first half of Death Note and also Bleach manga... The concept in the case of DN and more the art style in Bleach. I'm just morbid I suppose.

My general craft is lyricism. I'm working on creating complementary music. Anyway, I find really the most important thing is to give yourself time to think a lot. Thats why walks and baths are top.