Pinterest is a great way to collect photos of ideas and things that inspire you in an easy and organized way. Before Pinterest came along I would save inspirational photos to my desktop and then attempt to organize them later. The problem with doing this is that I would often forget the source of where I found them or would get too overwhelmed to sit down and organize them. Using this free platform, you can easily create a collection of images to use as creative inspiration with the click of a button.
Pros and Cons
This platform has some automatically built-in features that make organized saving a breeze. You aren’t able to save a photo to a board without having an existing categorized board or create a new one. It forces you to take that step that in a normal scenario you would maybe put off until later. Quite often it links back to the original source of where something is saved from as well if you ever need that information. It will also inform you before you hit ‘save’ if you have already saved something, which is genius! An even better feature is that you aren’t limited to saving content that is already on Pinterest’s website. There is a widget which is now called the “Save” button, that you can install on your web browser to save any content you wish to one of your boards.
Another benefit is that because your account lives online, you don’t have to worry about everything you save taking up your hard drive space. In the event of a personal computer crash, you also won’t lose anything you have saved to your boards. While this is a benefit it can also be a bit of a disadvantage as well in that you have to be online to access those photos. Also, if Pinterest ever goes away you will lose all of it. (I know, that’s herecy! Let’s pretend I didn’t say it out loud!) So that’s something to keep in mind. You can also create secret boards which are great if you are working on an idea for a commission or gift and you are trying to keep it under wraps. Once a board is public, however, it cannot be made secret. In this case, you would have to create a brand new board with the secret setting on and transfer all your saved items over. (Which is a pain…trust me.)
Important Note: It’s ok to have boards for inspiration but be mindful of not doing direct copies of photos you don’t have permission to you for art reference. If there is a link back to the original photographer, you can try contacting the, to see if they will give you permission or not.
Examples of Artist Inspiration Boards
– Artist Studio Spaces
– Colour Palettes
– Other Artists Work
– Craft Ideas
– Artist Tips
– Art Tutorials
– Photo reference on a subject matter
Boards to follow
– Other Artist
– Officials boards for art supply companies
– Anything that you find inspirational whether it be photos, quotes, fashion designers, personalities etc
If you love surfing the web for inspiration and enjoy keeping a catalogue of the images you find on the internet, Pinterest is a great tool to use. It’s easy, organized and most of all pretty fun. A word of caution though, it’s easy to fall down the “Pinterest Rabbit Hole” so make sure you’re not spending more time Pinning than you are creating actual art! 😉
Do you have art related inspiration boards? Share what inspires your boards in the comments below!
You can find me on Pinterest here: https://www.pinterest.com/barbsotiart/