What do you do to get your creativity flowing?

[Valigarmander]

I know there's a lot of artists, writers, musicians, and other artisans here, so I was wondering what you all do to jump-start your creative process or overcome a block.

I can't get things done when there's noise, so it helps for me to work in quiet places. Music doesn't always help, unless it's soft and ambient. If I'm drawing or doing something graphic, sometimes looking through things other people have done helps. This doesn't work as well when I'm writing, but I try it sometimes too. If I'm really stuck, I like to step outside or go for a walk. Sometimes all I can do is sit down, clear my mind of distractions, and brainstorm by myself.

[Dizzy]

I bounce a tennis ball in the basement, or anywhere with concrete.

Increases creativity by a significant amount.

[Robotazy]

Usually, I listen to music. Usually, when Writer's Block hits me on something, I move to a different story, since I have several of them. Of course, I've never been hit by any serious writer's block. >_>

[Antisocial]

I go on the internet.

In fact, I have writer's block right now.

[Dux is not you]

Calling you names is what gets my creative mind going, Daisycharmander.

Now seriously. I'm almost always blocked in some way or another. I tend to just flow with my mind and go wherever it's leading me. I'm glad it's taking me to good places at least.

[Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds]

I don't believe in writer's block. It's just a time when you're feeling bored and uninspired and should be doing something else for a while. I like to recharge by reading, watching good shows (mostly anime these days), or working on another creative project that is in a completely different realm to whatever I am presently bored with (instead of writing my stories, I might go draw out some jewellery designs or sew something).

Sometimes distractions make it impossible for me to think, though, like certain songs or someone watching a show in the same room. Sometimes I'm so far in the zone I don't even hear/see it, though. XD

[Rainbow Dash]

if i had a tablet id totally learn how to draw

if.....

[Heroine of the Dragon]

It depends on what I need to be creative about but I tend to just sit and daydream... then I find the "block" wasn't really there. It was just that my two brain cells needed distracting a 'holiday'!!

[Jere]

Musically i just sit down and play until something new hit's me or till i find something that fit's to some lyrics and speaking of lyrics, I can usually pull something of in 5 - 10 minutes if i have to.

(this is a true story and my brothers friends thought i had made the text up beforehand which was kind of hard to do as they just made up the song)

[Cosmonautical]

Yeah, I tend to just have a varying attention span. There's nothing you can do to force ideas, but you can always chat something out or just divert your attention for a while. People look at things like writing without thinking about what makes it good. If you can define what makes it good, it should be pretty easy to make the good stuff. If you can't, then you need to talk to somebody about it or read about it, whatever you can do to increase your range of perception. Some people call the product of that "having an epiphane" but I just think of it as standard practice and living. You can always think of something from a different perspective.

[Ace Mercury]

A deadline is good inspiration, though I haven't been able to do that thing where I set my own deadlines and then want to follow them. =\

Sometimes it helps to absorb some material related to what you're doing. Like when I read some manga, it makes me want to draw some manga characters. Or maybe this one pose they're doing looks cool (and looks easy enough for me to draw) so I want to draw it.

[Jenocide]

Sometimes when I'm listening to music or surfing the net, I get inspired to write or draw something. If I get stuck I usually switch to something else. I have enough ideas to keep me busy.