An artist finds inspiration for their work in everything that surrounds them, from everyday situations, to experiences, colors, people and places. Places. Something we lost access to in the past few months in a way we could have never imagined.
The Coronavirus pandemic changed our perspective on many things. The way we live and perceive our surroundings is one of them. Most of the THU tribe was, and many still are, stuck drawing at home. Losing the possibility to explore the outside world, to live it, to let it contaminate your mind, can be a huge obstacle to creativity.
This year we were also forced to cancel the THU main event, which was a decision that was as difficult to make, as it was necessary. The whole idea of the THU experience is to open the tribe up to new ideas, to broaden your perspectives, to inspire you, but also to remind you all of why you chose to work in the creative field in the first place.
Since canceling the main event, we were thinking of a way to keep us all connected and inspired, and then it came to us. For the past few months, every Friday, THU has been releasing an episode of our favorite Sketchbook series for free on our YouTube channel, also thanks to the support of Lenovo, who never lets our community down, and NVIDIA.
The idea was to create a virtual place where one could go to search for inspiration, especially in these strange times we are living. Through the comments many of you left us under each episode, we kept the connection strong and alive.
But slowly the doors of the outside world are starting to open up again for all of us. Have you returned to your favorite place to sketch yet? Where do you usually go?
We were wondering what it meant for an artist to not be able to go to the places they usually rely on for inspiration, such as art galleries, life drawing sessions, parks, cafès, streets etc. Then we realized that a change of perspective could help. A place is made up of different elements to look out for and the same place, seen through one of these different elements, could look completely different. Have you ever tried to concentrate on just one of the following?
Sounds: every place has a sound that is unique to it. It could be a bustling street, the sound of people chatting, a wave on the shore, birds chirping, anything really. Next time you go somewhere, try closing your eyes, listening and drawing whatever images those sounds evoke in your mind.
Colors: try to pay attention to the colors of buildings, people’s clothes, nature or whatever is around you. As the light conditions change during the day, so do the colors of your surroundings
Lines: can you see any symmetries? Geometrical figures? Any curves? Focusing on looking for one type of line at a time could constantly change what you see in front of you.
However, we know that our personal favorite place to go to for inspiration is THU’s main event, but for that we’ll all have to wait another year. In the meantime, when you feel like you could use an extra dose of inspiration, remember that you can always tune into a Sketchbook episode and let your mind travel far and your creativity flow through the words and images of some of our most-beloved artists.
