Personal influence

 

I'm a girl, so this might make more sense knowing that it's from a female point of view, if you're into that kind of thing. 

In my process of trying to grow and develop myself as an artist, and picking up bits and pieces of knowledge throughout the internet, I've learned that really laying everything out that you like can really impact your visual ideas in regards to what you like to draw. (I say this loosely, because you could like to draw EVERYTHING and dress like a nun, or whatever.)

For example, I love really clean basic things, with owls, repeat patterns, typography and simple design, with a lot of organic elements like fur and weaves mixed in. It's interesting to see these kinds of interested reflected in the things I wear everyday, AND in the things that I draw.

It's also just really fun to throw all the stuff you mess with on a daily basis without really seeing it into one pile and notice it all. Since you wear it or are surrounded by it, you don't really notice it anymore.

I did this at Polyvore. It's crazy fun.

Also, here's a really cool link some people might be interested in. Mark McDonnell's Warmup Gesture Sketching.

Some people find it really hard to do sketches because they get super neat and controlled and feel like they've failed a drawing, but it's really inspiring to watch him just sketch loosely.