What inspires me?

So... as I'm writing this I'm just about done with my website. It really has been a while since I started, but hopefully all these fictional blood, sweat, and tears are worth it. Would be pretty cool if they weren't fictional though. I'm getting off topic.

Inspiration is a hard thing to come by. School is still nagging at me every night while I do homework - good ol' school. I'm overflowed with orders at the moment. Quick side note - don't scream at me every 5 minutes as a client for not getting it done the second you order the design.

Off topic again. Man, blogging is hard.

To sum it up, I have a million tiny little things taking up my day and little time for designing - even less to get motivated. So what's my secret? How do I get past all the hate for having Minecraft splattered all over me? And how can you take my experience as motivation for your work? May it be designing, photography, drawing, lion-handling... what?

There's a few things, actually.

1. Music.

What's work without music? I like to listen to inspirational/motivational rap. It keeps me going day and night without any stopping. Some of my favorite artists to listen to for these types of astounding lyrics are Witt Lowry, Kid Quill, K.A.A.N., Ivan B., EDEN, and a couple other's whose names I can't remember. But the point is, music is a crucial part of my workflow. The lyrics they provide me are words of extreme wisdom and I'd have probably quit by now if it wasn't for them.

Kindest Regards by Witt Lowry is one of my favorites. :)

2. Other designers like me.

The thought that I am in this huge, overgrown (slightly dying :( ) community is a thought of great sweetness and gratefulness. Just to name a couple - @T0xicZz, @SummonVenom, @SodaConcepts, @Wizilock, @Flxsh, @pxndasaiyan, and so many more. The designs they create are usually far better than mine and I look up to most of them as my superiors. But I, and you especially, reader, should never, ever, nab a design. Nab? Why, what is this inferior word Ryan speaks of? Stealing a design from another designer. Whether it be completely recreating a pose someone made, or stealing the banner .png and using it as your own, nabbing is a critical offense to this community and I can assure you, you will be greatly dismayed for the use of such terrible acts. Nabbing and inspiration are two completely different things. There is a fine line between the two, and when you pass from inspiration over to nabbing, it is not good. Trust me. I learned that the hard way. My way of finding inspiration from other designs is to look up "Minecraft Banner SpeedArt" on YouTube, or "Banner" on Twitter and click on latest. There is some really amazing material that is perfect to find motivation from.

3. My fast-working computer.

Ha. Sucks for you.

4. My supporters.

Whether my supporters are super-famous designers like Flash or Aether, or smaller designers with not that much experience, the simplest comments saying "nice," or "cool," can mean the world to me. Oh, and when those long paragraph comments or Tweets come in with a whole explanation of why I'm the best designer out there, even if I use Blender and Photoshop, are just the best things in the world. You don't have any supporters? Upload a couple of your magnificent pieces of art to YouTube or Twitter and see how many likes or replies or comments you get. From there, ask for opinions from slightly higher-up designers. Then you'll actually become decent, or hopefully better than you already were. Took me about half a year to get where I am from where I started, so how hard could it be for you? (Don't take that as a guarantee.)

So, how about that? The four ways I get motivated. All you have to have is a computer, a way to listen to music, and a Twitter or YouTube. If not, get one. If you can't get one, oh well. You'll forever be a terrible designer and never get any support and you should probably just quit.

(I'm kidding please don't kill me)