You guys- I need your help. This may end up being a slightly long post, but PLEASE read it all AND COMMENT! (It's pointless unless you comment.) I know everyone is busy and stuff and you have your own life to lead, but I SERIOUSLY need help here! Just read real quick and comment- even if it's only 3 words! That's all I need!

Those of you who follow my artwork already know very well that I have been drawing life drawing and figure drawing and models and observational pieces like CRAZY lately. In fact, I have done little else. Well, I am getting some interesting help on all of that on a forum elsewhere and am working on improving all that, but lately I have been feeling very "lost".

I am finally beginning to draw the human figure the way I always wanted, but it's ALL I DRAW NOW! And while I am improving- the suggestions I am getting (and they range!- from the good stuff to the outRAGEOUS!- like... "using 'nice' paper as a 'CRUTCH'", I shit you not!) are causing me some internal issues... The latest comment was something along the lines of: my stuff is not "experimental" enough for CalArts... As an artist, this is somewhat traumatizing... So I talked to an artist I respect (though sometimes I question why that is...) and he prompted me into an internal discussion of what my personal style is and what it is I can bring to CalArts... He also mentioned that he can't give me a good analysis of my work because all he's SEEN is the life drawing stuff. And I realized as I flipped through my gallery here to try to show him something NOT life drawing, and the thing is... there isn't MUCH! He challenged me to try drawing NON-observational stuff.

When I was in high school, this would not have been a problem... I had WILD dreams and ideas, etc. But that was TEN YEARS AGO! (yeah, don't do that math for me!) I fear that the "creative" side of me has died... So, in an attempt to revive that bitch, I want help. I want suggestions of different styles to try (expressionism, minimalism, etc.- ANYTHING but realistic!), objects to draw, genres, artists! (who's your favorite artist & why do you like their work?), themes, places- whatever! Throw something my way!

By the way- for the time being- "anime" is NOT a style... I am not showing anime to CalArts. I want UNIQUE suggestions. And here's what I will do- I will draw TWO drawings of each suggestion. I will post them all here for easy reference- now all I need are the suggestions to start piling in. PLEASE give me something! Here's a little starter kit- run from here:

Tim Burton?
Chris Sanders (look him up if you aren't familiar with the name- he's here on DA)
monsters, aliens, faeries?
Steampunk?

PLEASE you guys? This means a lot to me. I have to find my voice.

Suggestions:
- add strange element (ex: hands with teeth)
- draw in reverse on black paper with white pencil or paint
- cut-outs
- without picking up pencil/ one line drawing
- surreal
- monsters
- "cartoony"
- poem/short story in one picture
- Caricatures
- Ben Templesmith
- Futurism *
- blocks of color, then outline *
- left handed drawing
- familiar character in different style *
- H.R. Geiger or Dali
- woodcuts
- ink blotches *
- Sci-fi
- Fantasy
- American-style Illustration
- costumes sets and story for Cirque performance theme in Alice in Wonderland, or the epic of the Monkey King *
- Mary Blair
- Rolito
- Tara McPherson
- Marcos Chin
- Martis Hsu
- Chris Appelhans
- Scott C
- Aya Takano
- nakamura yusuke
- black paper & colored pencils
- graffiti (Banksy * and Asain-style)
- Sofie Wikström
- Ian McConville
- Yuko Ota
- Da Vinci
- Steampunk *
- combine animals
- combine humans with animals
- Brom