In regards to inspiration

In Regards to inspiration and the fuel of creativity.

It's been close to a month now since my trip out to London and Nottingham. For readers who didn't know, I was very fortunate to be invited as a +1 to the launch of the Horus Heresy and to be within a circle of content creators that Games Workshop has invited. My friend Josh (aka @omegonedge on Instagram) gave me the invite, and so I packed my bags, grabbed a plane ticket and I took off from YVR to LGW! On the flight, I was just packed with excitement, nerves, and thoughts running through my head. After all, I was about to spend 4 nights in Nottingham with some of my painting heroes and teachers such as Richard Grey and Andy Wordle. Along with a slew of content creators from both the hobby and gaming side all of which brought to the table their passions, experiences, and joy for the hobby we all love. And a bigger personal kicker was that this would be the first time I've ever met Josh in person! Connecting through the hobby over Covid, starting a discord server the Painting Lodge alongside him, and not only sharing his invite with me but also putting me up in his flat for the time I got to spend in London! Before I go any further, it's with my highest gratitude that such a friend made my entire experience happen. From the invitation, introductions, and accommodations; it's that kind of friendship and connection that makes these things possible. So with all that said, where does inspiration come from, and how does it fuel creativity? I was in the middle of writing this article before this trip and the opportunity was even brought up. I'm glad I waited, as my answers have evolved along with new questions emerged. Here is what I've learned :)

Inspiration is a word that has been thrown around a lot in recent years. Images that inspire you, to comments from others saying they got inspired by something you did. The visual medium is very prominent in this category of inspiration and so are people's stories. From visual stunning artwork to stories of overcoming diversity or challenges. Taking these examples I've found feelings of excitement and joy in seeing amazing works of visual art. As well as a swell of happiness and confidence when hearing a story of conquering extreme odds and sacrifice. With digesting those experiences, I've found the initial boost of energy to start a project amazing, but like sugar, the rush dies off and sometimes the crash feels awful. It puts the brakes down on whatever we are working on and makes us search for more "inspiration" to get that jolt of excitement, or the swell of confidence it once provided. This kind of working process isn't sustainable and much like a diet of too much sugar, not very healthy for the creative mindset. We are gravitating our emphasis on this inspiration at the endpoint, the feeling of our conclusions to viewing the work, or listening to the story. This is the sugar, but what we need is to focus on the elements which we can see in ourselves or a potential outcome that could be relatable. And then with action, we can create our inspiration going forward! I loosely quote Steven Pressfield in his book - The War of Art,

"An amateur waits for inspiration to show up, a professional gets to it and finds it working."

By looking at yourself and seeing your own story unfold that has a common relation to your inspiration, you can start to place yourself in your own story. You see stories are very powerful and they play a pivotal role in all forms of art. Let's go over an example to help place this in context.

In our world of Miniature Painting, we can see a finished piece and be inspired by it. Going so far as to pick up the same model and try it ourselves as we felt inspired to paint. When approaching the model, we can grab visual inspiration from what our inspired artist did with the colours and volumes etc. Then when it comes to applying the paint and strokes, we reflect ourselves into the work; seeing it superimposed on top of the original. This is the start of seeing our process and story unfold. Doing things similarly, but allowing ourselves to come through; transforming elements into our own and even giving permission to ourselves allowing us to show for better or for worse. This isn't about straight copying one work and expecting to possibly match or exceed in terms of technical skill. That's just copying and a different exercise entirely. Better if we dive a bit deeper into our inspiring painter we can get a better sense of who he is. This can be discovered through his body of work whether it's his choice of subjects (miniatures), the evolution of his work (skill), and even what he chooses to share in the form of the written text of blogging (story). If you have a few favourite painters, chances are you know a bit about them in some regards to the points mentioned and others which I think you can think of too. But you see, they have a story that in one form or another have pieced together to form a picture in your mind of who this person is. The real power that comes from this is that you are writing your own story. If you want an opposite form of this, just think of the number of skilled artists you see out there scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest. There are loads of wonderful illustrations and creative minds, but how many of them stick to you? How many of them are illustrating their story? And how many of them have given you this feeling of connection that you want to dive deeper, or in some way that you can't exactly explain, speak to you?

That connection mentioned above is key. It's the fundamental reason why we gravitate to certain artists, creatives, hobbies etc. A painting is no different in that it is a subjective form of communication, that if a certain viewer reads it, he/she may share something in common with the artist. Might be a belief, point of view, stylistic choices, cultural similarities, or even questioning. Of course not to negate another form of connection we may have with artists is their position of skill and status. Where this is gravitation towards a byproduct that comes with notoriety, they do after all create amazing stories. I will be excluding this as it's a branch that comes from the fruits of hard work, and refinement of their story. But it is not something I think is healthy to focus on and begin with. This path leads down to feeding your ego, and when that gets big, well I think we've all seen these inflate in some people. Their work and story take a sideline and all they thrust forward are things to feed the ego. That's a pass in my books.

To help connect, I'll put a pause on the conclusion to tell you about how I felt new connections during my trip to Nottingham and London. My experiences meeting so many talented painters and one of them being my teacher Richard Grey were outstanding. My time spent talking over food and drink during the event and plenty of time chilling in the hotel lobby opened up and enriched the story of what I had before these people. You get their personalities, some of their values, and even the type of stories they enjoy telling. Seeing what engages and interests them also gives me a sense of what they find interesting and can lead you to a greater picture of themselves as creatives. For even multiple Golden Daemon winners have their sources of inspiration, and stories that drive them. I was lucky enough for that experience and expand the story I've had of them through our conversations and also feedback on my works! Being able to connect in that way, see their work in my own hands, receiving feedback about my journey was amazing and something that I hold dear. And if that wasn't enough artist inspiration to soak in for my trip. It would have to be my experience at the National Gallery in London that pushed the envelope into what I thought I could experience through art. Stepping into that place was a sense of magic, wonder, and this vibration of mastery. Through these halls, you would feel the paintings come alive before your eyes. Knowing the dedication, tireless pursuit of study and honing technique. Breaking boundaries with new technique and their visual interpretation of what life was like. It's a time machine that gives us a visual representation of life in their era. From their beliefs, hopes, fears, intuitions, passions, people of importance, and values. But what set me off was my experience was stepping into seeing Rembrandt. To give you some context to what he is to me, simply put a master of his discipline. I've been fascinated with his style of portraitures (my favourite form of painting) since laying eyes on his work. I love his use of light and stroke to give soft telling features. Gives you enough detail, but leaves a bit to your imagination as well. An image that invites some viewer interaction and questioning. Back when I stepped to see his first piece, it was a warm flush of excitement followed by a swell of love. My eyes watered and for the first time in my life, I had tears of overwhelming joy that have come from art. It was like meeting a friend I've been writing to for years, and finally getting to see it in person. Finally got to have a personal conversation with his piece with my own eyes to the very canvas he touched. No amount of photographs or jpg could offer that kind of connection.

So here is how we can connect our inspiration to ourselves to help make it work for us. Allow those amazing works of Miniature Painting to inspire us, use them as fuel for your projects and help propel your work. And also dig a little bit deeper and find those stories that come with the work, whether it be the artist's story, or connecting it through he/her work. The visual eye candy is our sugar rush or our kickstart, and the story is for our endurance that helps carry the distance. You need to use both to gain the benefits of them and be aware of their existence. If you've been doing this already, then I hope this was an inspiring refresher and consider passing it down to another that could do it. This proved to me how powerful it is, as even my conclusions to being invited to the Horus Heresy opener were 110% about the people and connecting through the love of the hobby. Seeing the new models was exciting, but in hindsight, it was all about the connections between the creatives, fans of the game, and their inspiring stories that led us all to meet here. Next time you pick up a brush, just remember that you're the hero in your own story, so get creating!