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Sitting at my desk and looking over my art today, I realized something... Some of my best artwork seems to come from times when I'm drawing while experiencing strong emotions like: depression, bitterness, joy, anger, and other strong emotions. That is rather odd to me, but I have two examples below. Both are drawn during the last month in my new art program known as "MyPaint" which I greatly enjoy, but is Extremely sensitive to the slightest pen pressure. It can make drawings hard sometimes and is the reason for the thicker lines... O.O

Below is a piece done during a wave of depression and some bitterness towards a situation in my life...


The second piece, below, is done during a time of joy and happiness.


Why is it that my best pieces nearly always come from times of strong emotions? Do any of you experience this, or is it just me...? I'm not sure what this means, but for now I will just continue to draw; no matter what. C;

Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with you. lol This is how a lot of artists work. You get your inspiration from your emotions. Some from music, nature, stories, anything! It can come from anywhere. Even I tend to work from emotions.

I knew that it wasn't something wrong with me at all. C; That's interesting... maybe I should make this topic one for all of the art drawn during different situations of everyone. x3

^ That's an interesting idea. :3

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I used to rely on emotions a lot when drawing when I was in high school.
...mostly anger and depression cause it was the days of my angsty youth.

I'm still inspired by emotion, but I'm mostly moved by music, other artwork, or tv now.
Most times if angry I shake to much to draw decently.
When sad I can draw something half decent.
And when happy I tend to draw a lot and kinda well,
but it's mostly from a happy buzz from a love for something.

I've never really thought about it, but maybe emotion does help me draw better,
instead of just being inspiration. Might have to look into that more now.

it's the same with me too cx
I draw best when I am incredibly stressed or angry, or really just emotional xD

That's what my theory is at the moment. It takes more than inspiration to draw better (on occasion, at least). There are many times when I have the inspiration to draw something, but can't draw it the way that I picture it in my mind, but if I'm drawing something like an image to show anger that I'm feeling in the real world, it turns out closer to what I imagine. I don't know if this hypothesis is sound to hold in the test of time... but it seems to have at least a hint of truth in it.

I draw worse when I'm angry. Just get too frusterated too quicky. I draw my best when I am over tired, happy, or have a lot of pressure on me. But I think my best peices come when I am listening to music, though it has to be the right kind of music for the character(s) I am portraying. Lol im really peculiar about which songs I play with which character... Each have their own pesonality and I cant ruin that by playing a song that has nothing to do with them. It would be the end of the world D:

Yep, I draw better pieces when I am in some kind of altered emotions, I put down all my feelings on a piece of paper, I know it already now. And the draw comes out better if I give it a background song that fits with my feelings, like a sad song when I'm sad or depressed. I must say that my best works came out when I was sad and/or depressed, I don't know why but it's true xD here are some examples:

- Tell me why- with James Blunt's Best Laid Plans as background song;
- -Tell them I don't care- with Bryan Adam's Sound the bugle
- -What the hell...is going on?- with Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek (this is just a sketch, I've made it after visiting the Nazi Concentration Camp in Terezìn, near Prague last month, you can probably understand the meaning of that drawing, yes?)
- This rather old and doesn't have a title nor a background song but it was made during a bad period. Click

This is becoming a very interesting discussion quickly... x3

Simple for me: because art is an expression of yourself.

...yet I seem to draw quite well after a bit of a drink. This is a worrying sign, oh noez!

I like that statement. It really seems to sum it up, for most people at least as I truthfully can't speak for everyone. C;

I'm so glad I'm not alone. xD Often my best art is when I'm sad, angry, depressed, hurt, or inspired by a certain song.
Although I don't have any examples at the moment, because I've deleted the latest ones I did. They were done quite some time ago, but they were a bit hurtful towards someone I knew even though I never meant it like that. Long story short, I haven't done art like that in a while which, in retrospect, is probably why it doesn't look as good. xD hopefully sometime in the future.

This topic is rapidly becoming very interesting. Just to put another spin on this discussion: are your emotions stimulated the same when reacting to a real situation as opposed to being influenced by a song?

Well, to tell the truth, most of the songs I get inspired by remind me of real emotions I've felt in the past or I feel I can relate to. So, in a way, emotions are the inspiration behind songs as well. And, it should be! It's an interesting topic. I'm surprised this is the first one of its kind. Good job on creating it. :3

Usually when I am drawing because I am actually in the moment sad/ mad / etc. I can come up with a good base picture. If i try any further my emotions kill it for me and It just makes me feel worse. So when I am emotional I do a lot of sketching. Then I sometimes go back over my sketches and listen to music that will trigger my previous emotions, or enduce a completely different emotion because of the situation I have drawn or the charcters I am using.