How to start and maintain an inspiration board

Starting with what inspires you might be the best way to get your ideas moving from fantasy to reality.

If you ever took an arts-based elective in high school, you’ll probably remember making an ‘influences and inspiration’ book: which, at least for me, looked like an A3-size portfolio full of cut-outs, drawings and brief words that visually described my creative project while drawing on pre-existing material.

Visual arts projects are, to be perfectly frank, best communicated visually. Before you tire yourself out writing everything down in the Notes app or scribbling half-baked thoughts into a notepad, you can start a board on Pinterest and quickly collect a bunch of images that convey the ideas better. And it saves you turning your bedroom wall into something out of A Beautiful Mind (no judgement if that’s your thing, though).

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Silvi Vann-Wall is a Melbourne-based journalist, podcaster, critic and filmmaker who loves frogs and improv comedy. They were the ScreenHub Film Content Lead from 2022 to 2025. Twitter (X): @SilviReports / Bluesky: @silvi.bsky.social‬ / Website: silvireports.com