How to Generate Ideas and Inspiration for Illustration: Artist’s Practical Tips

In this article, digital artist and book illustrator Yaroslava Yatsuba shares a bunch of handy ideas on how to maintain artistic curiosity and the flame of inspiration with various creative experiments.

Hi, I’m Yaroslava, an illustrator with an architectural background. For the past 8 years, illustration, in all its diverse manifestations, has been my primary profession. So, I know what challenges illustrators may face, and how important and complicated it can be to stay inspired and generate new ideas. Here, I’d like to share my methods for finding inspiration and developing new ideas.

Sketching and Artistic Challenges

The first thing that helped me start and develop the skill of drawing faster was getting acquainted with urban sketching. The essence of the urban sketching movement is to take a sketchbook into the city or on a trip and draw the urban environment from nature. Sketches can be super fast, for example, from 5 minutes, depending on how much time you have.

Sketching helps you get rid of stiffness when drawing, overcome the fear of a blank sheet of paper, learn to draw in crowded places, and train yourself to see a variety of forms. Here you can experiment with materials (pencils, markers, mascara, liners, watercolors, etc.). If I don’t like the result, I just cover the drawing with acrylics and draw something new on this sheet.

Here’s a glance at some urban sketches.

If you are interested to learn more about the concept, check the official page of the urban sketchers movement

It is also helpful to take part in various challenges, for example, Inktober and Doodleaddicted. This allows you to draw on topics that are not typical for you and to see how other participants reveal them. Participating in art challenges enables artists to develop the habit of regular drawing and creates a sense of a deadline.

Art Materials

I recommend doing creativity exercises with traditional materials: colored pencils, pastels, paints, ink, using colored paper. This brings spontaneity and diversity to the process, creates unexpected effects, and brings interesting results. I have several separate sketchbooks for such experiments.

Artistic Experiments Boosting Creativity and Inspiration

What exactly can you do?

• Put paint spots in a sketchbook without thinking about shape, then look for images within them to add and turn the spot into a face or character. You can turn the sketchbook from different sides to find the most successful image. As for paints, acrylics, watercolors, or acrylic gouache will work well.

• Stick scraps of colored paper and try to create a composition or character from them, or cut out figures without a preliminary drawing, having previously folded the sheet in half (like how you made snowflakes in childhood), and get unexpected results every time.

• Experiment with colors and material combinations. For example, combine oil pastels and colored pencils, acrylic and collage, slate graphics and watercolor in a drawing. Create a texture with a kitchen sponge or scratch the surface with a needle.

• Make homemade stamps from an eraser and use a stamp pad and ink to create patterns or compositions. I have a whole collection of both homemade and purchased stamps; it is a very meditative process.

These are just some of the options; there are a lot of them. Experiment, look for what is closer to you and resonates with you, because the process itself should bring pleasure and ease.

Inspiration and ideas often come from contemplating nature, visiting museums and exhibitions (not necessarily related to art), reading books, and listening to songs. So don’t neglect these obvious, always-effective sources.

The main thing is to be open to new things, not be afraid to experiment, and never stop drawing!

If you want to see the artist’s bright illustration projects, check Yaroslava Yatsuba’s Behance portfolio or Instagram page.

For more inspiration, check the sets of other posts from our D4U Inspiration gallery, where we gather impressive creatives to share their art with you, for example:

• collection of dashboard designs
• people illustration gallery
• app design concepts for sports and fitness
• elegant illustration-based packaging designs
• 3D character art collection
• captivating 3D animation concepts
• creative web designs with 3D graphics
• stylish visual identity projects
• inspiring mobile interactions design examples
• Procreate illustration tutorials