Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Pumpkin Tower! / IF: Spooky

Even though I've been having a hard time being creative lately, I managed to sneeze this one out for the upcoming holiday. Has that ever happened to any of you? How do you get yourself out of a creativity funk?
(I need to figure it out soon because I have an 80 page sketchbook to fill for The Sketchbook Project!)
Just for fun, here's my sketch:

16 comments:

  1. I like it! And I have the same problem with being in creative funks. I find that reading interviews of artists that I like inspires me along with looking at their work. I am also working on The Sketchbook Project and have 4 pages done. o_O
    Good Luck! I hope you find something that works for you.

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  2. Spooky, but oh so cute!! The characters are great and I love the way you treated the background and silhouetted foreground.

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  3. A superb illustration, love the expressions. My favourite character in this is the little bird on top.

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  4. The first I always tell people is "stop and get away". Of course, the first thing they always tell ME is "I can't, I have jobs to do, deadlines to meet! I can't just take time off!"

    But it doesn't have to be a week's vacation in Hawaii (although, if you can swing it, why not?). An evening, a weekend, short excursions. Go and do or see or experience something DIFFERENT, something you've never ever done/seen/felt before. Read a book on a subject you never would have picked up before, watch a movie you'd never normally rent. Learn about a foreign culture, REALLY foreign, that's a big one.

    Von Glitschka describes it as "collecting matches." Matches spark creativity and ideas, but if we do the same old thing over and over, we burn up what matches we have and then have nothing left to burn.

    Second is sleep. I think people greatly overlook how being even a little sleep-deprived saps your creative mojo to a degree most would never suspect. Seriously.

    Third thing I tell people, try a new method of doing your work. New medium, more realistic, more cartoony, limit yourself to 3 spot colors, make it entirely by hand (no computer). Believe it or not LIMITING yourself can often force you to be much more creative than if you had no rules at all!

    All that being said, everyone's different =) Gotta find what works for you, but you gotta try all kinds of things to figure that out! Good luck!

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  5. Oh, and awesome illo, BTW, as always =)

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  6. OH! Oodles of cute!
    Long time ago I was told to just work through it... doodle whatever and like brainstorming the creative flow will come... the worst is when you panic and just freeze!
    But I also agree with Sean!

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  7. love this! the little raven is so cute.
    I have the same problem, that sketchbook is just sitting there taunting me.

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  8. Wonderful illustration and fantastic colors!

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  9. Anonymous10:55 AM

    Fab illustration (as per usual!) :)

    My suggestion for your lack o' creativeness...take a break, for a safety's sake! hehe...seriously though, just taking a day to drop all that creative "pressure" we artists can feel is good for the soul. Meditate, nap, take a walk, cook or bake...just let go. I bet you'll wake up tomorrow morning feeling groovy again. :)

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  10. Love your illustration. The best quote I ever heard was, "You never hear of Plumber's block, just get to work." I take it to mean work on "anything" to get creatively going.

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  11. This is such a great illo! That bird is adorable and the pumpkin's teeth crack me up! Taking a walk or looking at other people's art always helps me :)

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  12. So cute! Reminds me of little jungly pumpkin bells

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  13. I love seeing the sketch too :)
    Good luck with your sketchbook project! (I really need to get moving with mine too)

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  14. Nice colors and glow about it. I especially like the pumpkin eyes.

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  15. Love this illo! The witchy bird is so cute!

    I agree with Sean and Donna. Do something different, then just keep going through it. It happens to all of us. I'm a little freaked because I still have over 50pp to fill in my sketchbook. Yikes! Maybe we can just rip some out. I won't tell anyone if you don't;)

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  16. Oh, I love this! Those goofy smiles and teeth on the pumpkins...adorable :)

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