How to paint and draw

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My mom has been wanting me to starting drawing and painting again, but I don't know if I can or not. I use to be a really good artist in high school, but when I left for college I fell out of the practice so I don't know if I can do it or not. Can anyone tell me what are some ways that I can try to draw and paint again for practice? What do you do to help feel inspired to do any kind of art?

For me going with the flow is the best way to feel inspired. Don't even look at other peoples paintings or drawings. Get a paper or canvas and start with just a line or whatevers on your mind. It doesn't even need to be anything really, you can just call it "abstract," then little by little you can expand it by adding more details and shading, then colors and eventually you'll have something interesting going on. That will help you develop your own style too, I guess. Just do what you enjoy because you won't feel inspired if your forcing yourself to practice.

Check this out. One of my favorite artists, Nick Blinko. Lots of detail.


This is a self taught artist with no prior knowledge of art. Adolf wolfli.

drawing from life is a good way to learn anatomy. going by flat pictures can only take you so far, but it can be hard to find a willing model.

when drawing from imagination, it helps me to imagine my "subject" as a collection of very simple geometric shapes. spheres, cylinders, etc. and i build off of there. i imagine that goes for life drawing too, but i don't do very much of that.

i couldn't tell you what i do when i feel "inspired". i look at something, i combine it in some way or other with another thing i saw, and the rest is incomprehensible.
one of my monster designs was a combination of a character i saw with a hypodermic needle for a head, plus an earlier concept i made of people with compound eyes (fibers), plus another monster from a videogame. amalgamations like that.

really, one of the secrets to creativity is hiding your sources.

try going to the local library and draw people there candidly. i've done that only once, but it was pretty funny.