Fantasy Art Inspirations In The Art Form

I don't think there is any artist who wasn't influenced from someone elses work to such a degree that they became more of an artist as a direct result of seeing that other artists work.

For me as a child I would see the work of Larry Elmore who was very influential in my decision to create fantasy artwork and just draw new ideas and explore my imagination based on his incredible work, but as time goes on other artists become known and I find them, particularly on the web as there are online galleries for fantasy art.

When it comes to fantasy art I like allosorts and can be inspired by pretty much anything in any medium, but to seperate our thoughts about being inspired by fantasy art I have put them into specific categories that can be put into a weekly routine to bring new life to inspiration and the process of it.

Past Artwork And Sketches

Every artist has old unused sketches and drawings that for whatever reason have just been abandoned and locked away in a drawer or file. Well I feel that is sometimes useful to revisit these old drawings for some much needed inspiration and who knows maybe you'll find something within them old ideas that maybe you'll be able to turn those sketches into a masterpiece of fantasy art.

The same can be said of written notes that go with some sketches that we do, because a descriptive paragraph can be a good boost for some new drawing ideas, so never overlook anything you have written or drawn and not used them, they might just be your ticket to some of your best work, as you already have some rough drawings and notes prepared so get creating!

Historical References

Sometimes historical fact can be just the starting point for your own fantasy worlds as real life history is quite eventful if you look back going back to the medieval age or beyond, there is a wealth of history to plunder for ideas and concepts to make your own, maybe your fantasy world or story could evolve from a world war 2 setting and then it transcends into something entirely different.

The same things can apply to weapons and costumes the only limit is your imagination, we look at pictures and previous illustrations of actual weapons and costumes and then we take what we see and turn them into something futuristic or totally basic and old world.

So never forget history, as it can prove a useful tool to find lots of content you can draw from.

Personal Sources Of Inspiration

What I call personal sources of inspiration are the ones that are personal to you, you could enjoy reading books, comic books or even roadsigns and be inspired someway to draw what you want.

Watching movies are my own best source of inspiration, I would be there watching a film with my family and then I would just go off on a thinking spree and miss the rest of the film thinking up new ideas to draw,characters and creatures.

Listening to music also helps the ideas flow too, especially music you can really get into by wearing headphones and shutting yourself away in a room with a sketchpad and a pencil for company.

The key to being inspired is to see as many other fantasy artists work as possible and to study them also by watching youtube videos of drawing examples.