The whole world is going through a lot right now, but inspiration can come from anywhere! I’d love to hear what you’re all doing to stay creative during shelter in place and these wild coronavirus times.
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Since my gig is drawing maps for RPGs, the lockdowns are a stresser but aren’t changing my baseline work environment. If anything, I have more inspiration lately because a lot more people have free time to play RPGs online, and this means I’m playing a bit more and thus getting more inspirations for new works.
The personal stresses are higher as I have parents in failing health two hours away whom I used to take care of until the shelter-in-place orders came out. I keep in touch with them but can’t be there to help the way I normally am - this means more time on my hands, but also more stress.
So I play more games, play more video games, and draw, draw, draw.
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I’m so sorry to hear your parents are unwell. It’s a hard thing to grasp, that the best thing you can do for them is to not be there. Just remember this is temporary!
I am happy to hear your work environment hasn’t been very affected though! And I’m extra glad to see that you are finding new inspirations. I’d love to see some drawings/sketches/ or WIP maps if you can share them! You can share them in our Discord server if that’s more comfortable for you. Either way, I’d love to check out your work. 
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Here’s a pair of my more recent pieces. I generally spam work in progress photos to my various social media feeds.
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Woah! I’m going to be honest with you, @DysonLogos, I don’t know a lot about RPG’s or game mapping so I wasn’t sure what to expect – but this is awesome! Thanks for sharing
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Well, I did focus more on the writing of my comics, developing the characters and their backstories.
What I also did, to entertain my patrons, is post more, like every single day, detailling each single stage of the drawings, or panels from the comics. It really created a bond, like a daily rendez-vous and this really helped me to stay creative and always going forward.
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I did a bunch of poster designs for Amplifier’s call for art. Out of over 10,000 submissions, this one was chosen as one of the 70 added to their download archive.
And because of that, this happens:
Projections in the windows of Flannels, Oxford Street, London, by W1 Curates.
Fill the Walls With Hope, Philly.
Because Fill the Walls is doing such a great job, I’ve done another design for them, which will go up in the coming weeks. It’s hard not to be inspired when they keep sending me photos of my work being plastered on walls.
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I find challenging myself to level up a skill in a manageable way is a good way to keep me motivated creatively. For about a year now, I’ve been assigning myself monthly aethetic themes, such as “neon”
“spring”,
and “rainbows.”
Despite the pandemic situation, coloring remains relaxing for me, and then it’s fun to see a set of illustrations at the end of the month that all fit together in the theme, too. 
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I’ve barely been making any progress on the comics that my Patreon is focused on. If I manage one page a month I am delighted.
Instead I have been streaming commissions. Mostly furry porn commissions. I won’t link to them here for obvious reasons; I’ve got the same user name on Furaffinity if you wanna see a lot of horny cartoon animal people with some very large round parts.
It’s been kind of astounding to see what I can do in a couple of hours, I’ve been pushing myself a lot on the comic and didn’t realize how much faster I’d gotten on doing a single image when I’m slowly chipping away at a multi-year project!
tattoo design, I don’t normally use lines but this one needed to look like it belonged on the cabinet of the 80s video game it’s referencing
angry fox genie
still in progress, this is a virtual audience for a crazy thing a musician friend is doing where his Evil Mad Scientist stage persona kidnaps a band and forces them to perform for audience tips - if he gets more tips than the band then THEY DIE!!!1!. A contrast pass and some very simple motion may be happening this weekend.
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I’ve been renovating a studio space in my building since this happened. The upstairs front of our building has smoke damage from a fire started before my Mom bought the building that we’d planned on only using for storage, but there just isn’t enough room in my loft for a sufficient area for art so I decided to use one of the least damaged rooms for my art studio.
Everything about this is SO. COOL. I can’t imagine how fulfilling it is to see your work plastered on walls every where. Is your second design finished? Has it gone up anywhere? Would love to see this continuation!
It’s tough to keep working at a skill you’re already confident in, but it’s great that you keep challenging yourself! What is this months aesthetic theme?
Wish I could like this 100 times. I also am obsessed with your angry fox genie piece 
This sounds like a setting for a movie that I’d love to watch. Would love to see the space when it’s finished, if you’re okay with sharing! I love getting a peak at an artists space, it’s almost like art in itself. 
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Here are the work in progress posts for my art studio that I’ve been sharing with my patrons and followers:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/room-with-view-35966919
https://www.patreon.com/posts/may-project-36639196
https://www.patreon.com/posts/painting-with-36787537
I am moving furniture in today and working on another post with an update for Sunday. 
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oh damn that looks like a hell of a project, all that natural light should be super nice once it’s done though!
I spent the last week or so finally getting a decent home studio set up for the first time since my cross-country move a year ago, I ordered some parts from Ikea a month ago on the back of a pile of commissions and it finally got here. It is so damn nice to finally have my external monitor set up at a comfortable distance where I can even turn it to portrait mode again.
It is also very nice to have Princess Katrina sitting in the middle of her hoard of Mardi Gras beads, doubloons, and that little pile of Canadian money I never got around to exchanging after a pretty decent showing at VanCaf a few years ago. Desk familiars are important parts of the creative process.
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I agree. Very important to have a studio, art area, or even just a desk that is an inspiring space. It is critical to creativity. I think that’s why so many creators are functioning so well right now (also many of us are introverts) we have already our sacred space to create and our world kind of revolves around that.
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As it happens, this has continued. This design
has been going up on walls in Philly, thanks to Fill the Walls With Hope.
And this design was also chosen by Amplifier to be included in their download archive
so this morning, W1Curates sent me this shot, of it being projected on store windows in London.
I can’t wait to see what happens next…
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@lisavollrath That’s wonderful, and a great way to use art for good!
As for how am I staying creative, I felt compelled to share as well because maybe it would help. Here’s how I stay in the creative flow!
limit news/social media interaction as much as possible. Whether you are sensitive or not, now is the time to limit yourself. Excess amounts I feel can cause depression and also for you to feel everyone else’s junk too much.
Be thankful for what you have. It keeps you happy. If you only have one patron, than lavish them with extra attention because they may be really feeling sad and need you now more than ever.
It’s okay to continue to create. In fact, it’s ESSENTIAL. Don’t let the current unrest make you feel irrelevant. And your work doesn’t always have to be topical to be essential, but by all means, make topical art if it is in your heart to make it.
Lastly, and on the lighter side of things, the plants in my studio, (I only have three at the moment, an aloe, a cactus and a baby dahlia) make me smile every time I see them.
Also @thelatestkate, I love your work! My friend Dee told me about your stuff (a long while back when Tumblr was really in it’s hayday) and I didn’t know you had a Patreon, so this is a wonderful surprise for me! The hummingbird is my fave message. 
And here’s some art I made recently. It’s inspired by my childhood in the 80’s!
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Love love love the progress pics! It’s such a unique space, I’m definitely jealous. Keep us posted on updates!
I agree, everyone needs a desk friend to help them get through the day. And I will say, Princess Katrina looks powerful on her bed of Mardi Gras beads.
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New to the forum despite being on Patreon for some time. This feed really fascinated me as I’ve been struggling like so many others to make a living during this strange time, especially as one of my main incomes is drawing caricatures at public events.
Love seeing what everyone is up to.
If there is a plus side to the virus it’s given me more time to focus on my Patreon and I’ve added a new feature… a cartoon journal of the pandemic which I’ve added to one of my tiers.
I may even carry on with the journal once this is all over as enjoyed it so much. Silver linings huh.
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