Traditional Art ideas?

[Miinu]

Sooo.. I've been doing art for quite a while now. However it seemed like things died out with my creativity a while ago and I'm so upset with myself about it.

I was wondering maybe people had ideas of abstract things to doodle, or characters to make up, or something to keep creativity flowing! Maybe you can even share ways you keep creativity..?

 

[Alexandra]

Keep an art journal. Maybe you want to call it an illustrated diary, urban sketchbook, altered book, scrapbook, visual journal, artist's book....whatever the name, it's about unstructured art of the mixed media variety.
I was skeptical initially when it was suggested to me, as there can be serious snobbery around what is and isn't "proper" art, but I have come to find it useful for keeping in practise with my "art every day" goals. It can be play, exploration, experimentation or practise, but usually involves some combination of painting, drawing, text and collage. I've even gotten adventurous and included embroidery on paper. For me, my sketchbook is more work related; it's where I develop ideas for specific things, but my altered books are places of exploration without direction, experimentation with a new medium, or a place to collage things and images I want to keep but not in a scrapbooking sense.
I'd suggest looking at the art journal tag on tumblr as a good place to start for a visual feast, and there are some blogs dedicated to collecting journaling prompts, so you're unlikely to run out of inspiration.