How to draw inspiration from your surroundings?

Trawling for visual gold.. Observe. Capture. Release. Repeat.

Aug 9, 2022

Every month. Members of the illoguild answer the same question.This month the question is: How to draw inspiration from your particular surroundings.

Katie’s Newsletter

Inspiration from your surroundings

Each month, members of the Illo Guild are answering a question together, and this month we’re responding to: How do you get inspiration from particular surroundings? I have been drawing a lot of buildings lately for illustrated maps, including a map of Italy. So I brought my sketchbook while traveling around Italy earlier this month. What better way to g…

10 months ago · 4 likes · 1 comment · Katie Stack

Rhymes with Pizza

Harvard, Hibiscus and Hummingbirds

I’m a member of the international group of picture book illustrators called Illoguild. Each month, we each answer a question here on Substack. For August, that question was: “How do you get inspired by your particular surroundings?” My answer: Sketch from life (and death…

10 months ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Jen Gubicza

Inna’s Art Pruning

Do you see the dice?

I walked along a dirty pavement and saw a colourful dice in the mud. I stopped to marvel at it. I must have stood there a minute as a passer-by lady stopped and checked if I was ok. I reassured her I was, only got distracted by the dice. “What dice?.” she mused frowning. She discarded my attempt at explanation, however, left satisfied - my monologue pro…

10 months ago · 2 likes · 2 comments · Inna Grishina

On The Creative Road

Observe. Capture. Release. Repeat.

August’s IlloGuild question: How do you get inspiration from your particular surroundings? When I was young, my mother encouraged me to draw everything I saw. So, I drew my dog, I drew a hat, I drew my sister sleeping, and anything (or anyone) lying around. I could spend hours drawing. Even when I wasn’t drawing I found myself observing. I soaked in the …

10 months ago · Brenda Harris

The Lemon Tart Bandit

Spy grandma

This month’s question from the Illoguild substack is “How do you get inspiration from your particular surroundings.” I live in a small town in the French Jura mountains, my daily walks are mostly to the local bakery, past cow pastures and gardens, through the parks and down sleepy streets. Not a very glamorous place for getting inspired to sketch someth…

10 months ago · 2 likes · Damjana Loddelina

Tabbykat chats

Inspiration from your Surroundings

Inspiration comes in many forms but how do your own personal surroundings weave their way into your work? I consider myself lucky to live in a quiet street in an accessible county not far from a major city. This offers micro and macro inspiration. On the one hand, greenery and lots of it, is abundant in local parks. I enjoy watching the same trees lose …

10 months ago · 1 like · Tammy Angelis

Adam's Notes

Constraints & Location

10 months ago · 1 like · Adam Ming

Carla’s Crowd

Your particular surroundings

I recently did this commission for a family in Sydney. Seeing the excitement when they opened it absolutely made my day!!! It was so adorable seeing the kids recognise themselves in the image. The family asked me to draw a portrait of them going for a swim. Like me, their second home is the beach. Where better to get inspiration then from my own ‘backyard…

10 months ago · 2 likes · Carla Hoffenberg

2 Comments

Ren Elizabeth

Aug 11, 2022

Loved this round-up! I used to think that I needed to travel to be captivated by my surroundings and have them feel worthy of illustration. Once I realized that was just a block I made up in my own brain, it's been really cool to see my own world from the perspective of a traveller - to see everything as new, interesting, and inspiring.

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Angela Caldwell

Aug 10, 2022

Wonderful! Thank you all for the inspiration!