Finding arts resources for techniques and for inspiration

This is a post from the weareoca.com archive. Information contained within it may now be out of date.
 
It’s sometimes almost overwhelming when seeking advice on techniques, or inspiration from other artists on the internet. There are, though, some ways you can short circuit your searches, and here are some suggestions on where to start. It would be interesting to know about searches others have done and about your favourite creative arts websites? Here are what I think are some of the ‘top’ sites for aggregating interesting and useful information on the creative arts. These are worth bookmarking and going back to, again and again.
First up is TED ‘For ideas worth spreading’. If you have an iPad there’s a free app for it. The TED concept is simple. Invite inspirational speakers to talk – for only 15 minutes – and record the sessions and make them freely available on the internet. The trick is to find ways of interrogating this huge resource to find lectures that relate to your interests. Actually not many relate directly to the arts, but there is a lot about creativity in there, and one or two gems. Take a look at Beatrice Coron talking about paper cutting stories here. And here is Tracey Chevalier talking about how paintings inspired her writing of the Girl with the Pearl Earring and other stories, and a bit too, about how to do your own curation as you wander around an exhibition. Finally Vik Muniz’s talk is worth sticking with to see his work with wire, sugar, dust and string. The point is to search for art, illustration, photography, graphic design etc and see what comes up that might interest you.
Second is the BBC archive. Just take a look at this to see the depth and range of resources tucked away on the BBC website. This is just the sculpture collection. There is much more.
Tate online resources are really rich and diverse, you could spend weeks captivated by what’s there.
Moving on to things that may help you develop techniques, of course Youtube is a great resource. The problem is sifting through the good and the bad. More specifically, try Adobe TV for tutorials on any Adobe product, you may find exactly the support you need on Photoshop or Illustrator for instance.
Finally try Lynda.com, which is a great resource for anyone studying photography or visual communications. It’s packed with tutorials on Adobe Creative Suite, interviews with practitioners, and tips and techniques. You can view a subset without paying a subscription. Alternatively you can take out a month’s subscription for £24 and work your way through as many things as you can in a month.
Have you come across any other excellent websites that aggregate useful things for creative arts students?