Ever since getting the news of a portfolio based scholarship, I’ve been trying my hardest to get it ready to send of. I’m a piece short of completion, and like always, I lack inspiration. However, I have gotten smarter *cough* when it comes to certain things, so I’m making a list of sources of my inspiration. Maybe it’ll help you, maybe not. This is just a record to go back to 19mo. from now.

• Colourlovers.com has been very useful in providing colour palettes, and they’re amazing! Especially those coming from this lover. Many patterns have given inspiration to some ideas, and the Blog is genius–containing colours, science, psychology, history, etc. It’s a good read.
• Design Meltdown is also another site to check out. An index of the most creative and aesthetically pleasing sites, as well as tutorials and links to other helpful sites. A lot of my inspiration and techniques have come from this site.
• Music. Music has also been a great source of inspiration to me. Passion behind Jason Dunn’s voice screaming after a breakup, or the intensity of Stephen Christian’s vocals in “Paperthin hymn.” Every song is a beautifully written piece of poetry.
  “The beauty of grace is that it makes life unfair.” - “Be My Escape,” Relient K
  “With downcast eyes, there’s more to living than being alive.” - “Alexithymia,” Anberlin
  “The chord that struck; an angel fell; skies went dark.” - “Say the Word,” The Classic Crime
• DeviantArt is also quite notable. Receiving new submissions every hour, this site categorizes every piece. It’s breath-taking to see some of the art, and it’s also quite inspiring.
• Myspace layout websites. Yes, Myspace is of the devil. But you have to admit… A lot of their website layouts are quite interesting and aesthetically pleasing. You basically have to style your entire layout from CSS coding (and DIV’s and Tables if you really want to). You need to create a good colour balance.
• Carbonmade Portfolios showcase many talented web designers and artists–like me. *wink wink* It’s enjoyable to see their personalities show through their work.
• Go Media Showcase is also a nice Flickr group that uses more Go Media packs and services than everyone else. It’s nice to see splattered paint drops and grunge-y pieces, though.
• Threadless.com is a store that turns your Illustration art into shirts. I’m sure you’ve heard of it already, but the pieces are witty, fun, and beautifully created. You need a steady hand to do illustration, and you also need to be creative enough to do a shirt.
• Go Media is very very nice! Many categories in their portfolio from print media to apparel. Each has it’s own distinct flavour.

Pretty much nothing new has been stated, but I want to keep these sites on record just in case. I’ve also come across some nice generators -

• Tartan Maker. Hello kilt inspired patterns!
• Reflection Maker. Easily make reflected images for your site.
• Stripe Generator. Make some amazing stripe patterns.

All the generators are amazing, and if you notice, they’re all by the same team.

And here is my list of ‘Sources of Inspiration.’
I now challenge you to go forth and do the same.
Huzzah!