I realise I'm officially over and done with "must have a concept" business, but I thought I'd just drop a line in as to how I got my inspiration for my body of work and some other general crap that will get in the way. And I'm going to put it in dot points, because writing is just too much damn work when I'm in my bludging mode.
- Pick something that interests you. You don't want to get most of the way, or even part of the way through your work and suddenly just find that you don't particularly care for it that much. It wastes time, money, patience, and sometimes can kill what was a good idea in the first place.
- Do as Shrutz says, use something recent, that piques your curiousity, or has stayed in your mind. Read books and find phrases you like - they don't necessarily have to mean anything by them selves, but they might give you an idea just from the sound. Think of recent movies, and of any ideas that might spring from them - visual, emotional, situational, physical, relational etc.
- Flip through art books. Countless numbers of them.
Hundreds of them. You don't have to read the text - not unless you want to - but just look at the pictures. Go through posters whenever you're in a store that sells them (posters of anything, Britney Spears to Degas, I don't care). Isolate things you like about them (the posters or paintings), which ones sell you and which ones don't? Why do they do that? Is there a composition or colour scheme that appeals?
For me personally, my original inspiration was a quote/saying: "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. And madness is what keeps the man from the truth." As well as from the Venus de Milo and her missing arms. I have absolutely no idea where that saying comes from any more, and I think I've actually amalgamated two different quotes in there. But the important thing is that it worked for me. My BOW ended up almost nothing like the quote would seem to imply, but it was a starting point.
As for developing your concept as a series of works:
- What medium are you good at using? Not what you necessarily
want to use, but what you're GOOD at using. This will save you time, you don't want to royally fsck up because you're using a medium you're not familiar with. You have to work with your strengths - because technical resolution does count for part of your mark. If you're planning on using a new medium, experiment like crazy NOW. Don't wait.
- While I did caution you to work with mediums you know, don't be afraid to try new things, that you haven't seen for a while, that wouldn't necessarily be applicable (in your mind anyway), or which don't really seem to go. You may be surprised, inspiration strikes at the weirdest times.
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When you want people to view your work, what do you want them to see? Do you want them to be able to physically interact with the piece? Do you want them to be distant from it? Do you want them to use their imagination... or do you want to overload them with details? Do you want it to be big or small? What will best help your concept? You
have to think about what sort of representation is the best for getting your idea across to the audience.
- Don't limit yourself. There is more than one medium out there, and I'm sure you're all wonderfully talented people who can work very well in a wide range of mediums. There is a
reason that there is a category called "collection of works".
Best of all,
always get someone to bash your ideas to death. There is nothing more satisfying than putting your ideas through hell, and finding out what sort of interesting stuff comes out in the post mortem. They might come out worse, they might come out better, but I can always guarantee (as long as the bashing-to-death is a
constructive bashing-to-death) that something new will come out of it. Either an old idea tortured into new shapes, or just a new idea altogether.
...And since I didn't actually answer any specific questions, and I have a little time to kill while I laze around, feel free to e-mail me, or message me, or batter me with questions about whatever you want (though I'm expecting things art-related). Of course, I'm not an expert, so I can't guarantee the perfect validity of anything that I say.
((And to those of you doing art courses: *cheers* You're doing good already.
))
