This series was started by a response I received from a contest I hosted in dAmn for deviantART's 8th Birthday. I was just so awestruck and (dare I say it) inspired by this story that I felt it should be shared.

So, that said, if you have a story of how you have been inspired please send me a note with the subject being: Inspired.

Thank you very much =jupiterkat2007 for allowing me to share your story.

^"Many things inspire me these days. Mostly all of dA inspires me! Just the thought of this community makes me happy ^_^

I stopped drawing for over five years. My father died when I was 16, and he was always the one to encourage me. He'd always be so happy when I showed him my work, and he'd even draw with me sometimes. After he died nothing mattered for a while. The thought of art never crossed my mind unless it had something to do with school.

The rest of my family doesn't really care what I do. It's all "oh, but can you really make money with that?" "..oh so what, you wanna work for Disney?" So I just kind of pushed anything art-related out of my head until college. I found little interest in what I was doing, so at one point I decided to change my major (several points really) and ended up having to take drawing."

My drawing prof, who told me never to say I couldn't inspires me.

"It felt like it was something new yet so familiar. But after years of not doing anything, I wasn't really at the skill level I had once been. The class actually gave me anxiety and stress over not being good enough. When my teacher announced our final exam was a self portrait, I literally came to tears about it because I couldn't draw people. I told my professor this, and he said of course I could, and to never say that I couldn't do anything. He was a great professor. I also had him for design fundamentals, and when I couldn't afford to buy paint for a project he gave me his. :] So he was also a great inspiration to me. Always there to help, to encourage."



"So after my art classes wrapped up I pretty much went back to no art. Just fell back into walking around day to day wondering what to do with my life. I don't know what made it happen, maybe a series of unfortunate events and stress (no pun intended) but one day I woke up and realized that drawing was something that made me happy. It always had. So June of last year, I came to dA and began uploading work to my account, which I had made 3 yrs prior at somebody's suggestion. I also began to pop up in dAmn and it quickly became addictive. After a little bit I thought about the final exam that seemed to put me through agony and decided I should practice drawing portraits. (When I was younger I had always drawn animals, or anime so it was pretty new to me.)"



"I can happily say after a year I've improved so much I cant believe myself. I'm addicted to deviantART now, I've made so many friends and I can't imagine cutting art out of my life anymore. So many fellow artist on this site have helped me out with tips, tricks, and critiques and I'm truly indebted to them. *InsaneKane87 and *marclopezvision are just amazing and I'm so happy to call them my friends. ~joystick-hero is always there with a great critique, helping hand.
And I have to mention =Princess-of-Shadows She is one amazing lady. I don't know her personally, nor chat with her or anything like that, but through her art and her journals it's almost like I know her. She and I do not do the same style art but she's still a big inspiration to me. Sometimes you can just feel that a person is sweet and completely genuine, and that's the case with Lily. She's amazing at what she does, and always makes points to upload resources to share with her fellow deviants. Her news articles are always useful, and she really is talented. Some people out there say cruel things to her, but she keeps on going. She gets discouraged just like the rest of us, yet she doesn't give up and continues to do what she loves. That, to me is an inspiration. It really is hard out there, but she is a person that proves its not an option to just give up. It boggles my mind why she is not a senior member, but I don't really know how that stuff works. She inspires me not only as a person, but as an artist, and even as a model, lol. I guess you could say she's someone I consider a muse :] "



"So in all, deviantART and what it means inspires me. My father, may he r.i.p. inspires me, for I know he'd be proud of me. My drawing prof., who told me never to say I couldn't inspires me. and Princess-of-Shadows, a person with amazing talent and strength inspires me._"

More work from =jupiterkat2007

Inspiration leads to Creation.