Inspiration Book

The first thing I recommend for beginning art students is to take the time to identify your personal aesthetic. What your interests are and what your goal is as an artist. For example, when I became serious about being a painter I needed to decide what I would focus on for subject matter and style. So I began an inspiration book, or scrap book. Clipping and pasting images from magazines and downloaded stuff from the web, with the idea that I would go off of instinct and not think too hard about what it was I chose, allowing my initial reaction of attraction to be the only criteria. The purpose of the book was to allow me to see trends in palette, subject matter, style, values, etc. This worked very well. After filling about 1/3 of the first book it became obvious that I am very attracted to strong value patterns and classic subject matter. Having a sense of direction in the beginning will save you time and materials.

A side note; images created by other artists in my idea book are used for educational and inspirational purposes only. Copying other artists work is useful for learning technique and handling of materials but should never be used for commercial purposes. It's our responsibility as artists create original work communicating in our own voice.