Where do illustrators, designers, etc find inspiration?

Inspiration don't appear out of thin air you must see hear, touch, smell something to first be inspired. Almost every artist makes notes of inspiration in their sketchbooks, notebook or journals these them self can appear to works of art. They are composed of a mixture of media, for example rubbings, photographs, clippings any think that the artist finds inspiring. Inspiration does not have to be confined to book it can spread to walls boards many studios ranging any subject. It is a way artist can inspiration quickly and all the time, occasionally work can be misguided or forgotten in books.

Constantly taking photos is a great way to store inspiration and if done correctly can be the perfect way to look back and research on the place or item.

"if there is something I really like it ends up on my wall"

Rian Hughes"I feed myself as much information as I can from my research and hopefully it filters into my illustrations"

“I’m not sure I actually switch into research way of thinking, it’s more of a continuous on-going process involving keeping your eyes peeled at all times.”

Jon Burgerman - Illustrator

    What is the role of the Audience?

The audience is who you need to appeal to with out an audience what is the point of communicating a message. the audience is who you need your work to appeal to and setting that audience is one of the fist things you must do. is your target audience students,children,artistic,older... setting your target audience dose not have to stick to age ranges it is better if you avoid age ranges and think... what might my audience job be? best thing to do is start building up a visual of how your audience might look. once you have identified your audience you can start developing your work basing it on that visual you have of your audience. as the process commences it maybe a good idea to research your audience because what you think they might like might not be the right choice.

the audience can define your work or set your on a new path. your work must always reflect the audience if it dose not if might make the piece of work unreadable or give the wrong message to that particular audience.