For me, inspiration comes from everywhere, so I try to capture my favorite places, colors, patterns, architectural structures and flowers in photos on a daily basis. It is a way for me to record the many things that inspire me and collect images for my inspiration boards and sketchbook. I then use them as jumpstarts for my art. To cultivate your own collection of inspiration photos, start taking pictures everyday of interesting textures, signs or colors. Ask yourself, “How can I be inspired by these?” Everyone’s inspiration is different, so go to a place that inspires your creative muse. It may be a museum, a zoo, an aquarium, a botanical garden or the beach. Take your camera everywhere and capture your muse.
Ease into taking inspiration photos by looking for letters of the alphabet in unconventional places. For example, the slant of a skyscraper may suggest the letter A, or the cables and wires of a bridge are reminiscent of the letter L. Go on a search for the entire alphabet, starting in places that are most familiar to you: the view outside your house or the street you walk down everyday. You can use these letter photos to create a photo journal or a set of artist trading cards (ATCs). Create a font based on your collection. Try drawing over each photo with a chisel-tip permanent marker to highlight the letter, or cut out the letter from the photo and embellish it with metallic, glaze or soufflé gel pens. There are so many possibilities; what else can you think of?