9 Useful And Inspiring Websites For Creative People

1. 99u

According to their website, “99U is Behance's effort to provide this 'missing curriculum' for making ideas happen. Through our Webby Award-winning website, popular events, and bestselling books, we share pragmatic, action-oriented insights from leading researchers and visionary creatives." 99u is a great place to go to make your ideas happen. They provide many resources for creative people to get their ideas up and running.

2. The Poetry Foundation

Whether you're a writer or not, The Poetry foundation is a great resource for inspiration and creativity. Edgar Allen Poe once said poetry was, "the rhythmical creation of beauty." That sounds like a great piece of inspiration to me. Even if you've never read poetry before or were forced to in high school, give it a try. You never know what art it could inspire."The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience."

3. Austin Kleon

Austin Kleon "is a writer and artist living in Austin, Texas." He is the New York Times best-selling author of the books "Steal like an Artist," "Show Your Work," and "Newspaper Blackout." On his personal blog he writes about creativity, art, and sometimes his personal life.

4. Lynda

"Lynda.com is a leading online learning company that helps anyone learn business, software, technology and creative skills to achieve personal and professional goals." Lynda is a great site to learn knew skills and software. While Lynda does have a subscription cost they do have a free 10 day trial for you to figure out if it's the right site for you. Many colleges and other organizations also have group memberships you can join so it's worth checking out.

5. Pinterest

Pinterest is, "the visual bookmarking tool that helps you discover and save creative ideas." While some people use Pinterest to “pin" their dream life, it's an awesome tool to save, curate, and share your work. I use Pinterest when I'm working on a play for research, to find new writing ideas, and yes I do pin the occasional (dozen) crafts I may never make.

6. Stumble Upon

While StumbleUpon is similar to Pinterest, it's actually a great place to find different creative content and inspiration. You can set your favorite categories and stumble through pages that may interest you. If you get any sort of artist's' block a few minutes on StumbleUpon may get your thoughts moving again.

7. Ted Talks

"TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less)." Ted Talks are often a great source of inspiration and education. One of my all time favorites is a talk by Liz Gilbert called Your Elusive Creative Genius.

8. Search Creative Commons

This is a great place to, "find content you can share, use and remix." This search tool lets you find creative commons media to use in your own work. Of course, you should always be sure to check the copyright on any material you use, but it's a great tool to find CC content.

9. CreativeLive

CreativeLive does just what it says: provides creative content live. "CreativeLive empowers you to unleash your potential by bringing the world's greatest experts directly to you, live. Featuring workshops in photography, video, design, business, audio, music, crafting, and software training." The best part of CreativeLive? There is free content daily!