Seriously...I'm stumped.

I've been thinking on what to build for a few hours now. Seriously, it's getting to me. I'm not as creative as I thought I was. I tried just "doodling", but nothing came into mind :/. I tried to look around my house for something to inspire me. But nothing :/.

Actually most of my builds are based on real life things or stuff I got from Sketchup. Can anyone help me with this mental block or something, whatever you call it.

The trick that works for me is to check events and look for classes under education where you learn to build something. Even though I know the building basics that are often taught there, making something different that I likely wouldn't have tried otherwise helps a ton when I need inspiration.

Beware of the places where you go and they just want you to pay for a lesson and do it yourself. More often then not you can find free classes by live instructors at places like NCI (you can tip them if you are so inclined) that are way better.

Good luck.

take up scripting if you do not already know how
that will keep you occupied for awhile

A friend of mine got inspired by a class on how to use sculpties. It certainly has gotten him interested in learning more about them.

There are so many good classes at the NCI Centers, Dreams, Rockcliffe University, <ASL> to name just a few. I think you could learn a new technique and get one of those 'AHA' moments. I would think learning how to work with tiny prims would get the creative juices going too.

Go check out the 18 sims comprising the SL5B celebration. You'll see a broad assortment of builds there. You're sure to see something that you want to try building for yourself. You've got nothing to lose by going.

the first thing i really enjoyed building were shoes, cos... i like shoes and cannot ever have too many shoes. when sculpties came out i then started playing with sculpties, making sculpted shoes,
so i guess if i were you id think about the sorts of things that you like to buy and start creating them yourself.

Only a few hours? I've been trying to squeeze out a new build, for the last 3 months.

If you're forcing your brain into creativity, it probably won't work. Take a break and just relax for a while - go walkabout for a day, maybe two. Chances are, you'll look at one tiny, irrelevant single prim or texture and "oh!! that's it!!".

When I'm bored and lost for an idea, (which happens OCCASSIONALY) I will either take a freebie and remodel it (like get an old freebie vehicle, and build a new shell for it).. or I will putter around the "Products wanted" sections of the various forums. or.. you take the dictionary/phonebook, flip through and stop on a random page, close your eyes and pick a random word, and type it into Google image search.

Soon you'll be off on a tangent of exploration, and chances are good, you'll find a cool thing to make.

Or think back to your favourite TV shows growing up, maybe cartoons, whatever, and think of something related to that.

What I often do is make lists. only about 20% of the things I put on those lists ever get finished.. but hey.. ideas are only as good as the ideas we discard.

OOh you want a challenge? set yourself an arbitrary prim limit (like 10).. and then try to model 5 things in your kitchen. Or look for something called "Building Shelter" ( secondlife://Isabel/34/252/85/ ) they have a contest that they do regularly where they tell you WHAT to build, or give you a theme, and some limits.. and then you compete. I see a lot of "Building Shelter" items put on SLX as freebies.

http://uncensored.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&Free=1&SearchKeyword=%2Bbuilding+%2Bshelter&SearchLocale=0&SearchPriceMin=0&SearchPriceMax=0&SearchRatingMin=&SearchRatingMax=&sort=&dir=desc

sounds like fun actually. maybe some day I'll have time.

hey, maybe go see the amazing work at the SL5 expo, I really can't think of anything more inspirational. Love it or hate it, it is some of the best work on the grid right now.

F'r me, I'll go off an explore an see what other peoples have made, see if it sparks any ideas for me. 'cuz of what I make, I'll also bounce around toy sites on the web an see what's out there.

If I'm just blocked, I dun worry about it too much. I know inspiration'll eventually hit me an I'll be plenty busy.

Mari

I don't always build that well but I have always had tons of ideas and not always ways to channel them other then occasional art doodle but cool thing is here we can build almost anything with lots of practice and experimenting.
When I started I just messed with shapes of prims and explored doing things with them.
Strangest thing I built was 200 meter plus tall tower made out of half hallow egg shapes on 1536m lot.
When I run out of ideas or not feeling very inspired I look for images on web and try to recreate them.
Right now I wanted to make tree dungeon so I am exploring ways to to make hollow tree
with secret areas for deviant fantasies and illusions.
That is just what I am doing right now but you may have other ideas of what you would want to build.
With right texturing and shapes you make a house that looks like a pineapple.
The possibilities are endless.
But it starts with just exploring the possible shapes and how they work.

Omg, Marianne is an Islandian.

I usually take a freebie script put it in a prim its not intended for and watch what happens

My avie always wants clothes. She always wants clothes. Last night, I got into a box of sculpted torii and walked away with a passable one piece bathingsuit. It's a design that won't work on skinny avies since it gave Iyoba a paunch. I've always wanted a one piece bathingsuit for my avie, so it was not a problem. Now there are several shirts I want to make plus a dashiki. I think with some of the geometric forms I have, I might be able to design a dress.

The problem is there is stuff I need to build for my house, including bee hives, a table, etc...

I collect textures... I love them. If I get bored I click through my texture organizer until one sticks out and just begs for me to use it, I get ideas of the kind of objects it would look good on.

Given that I like creating dresses, I wind up tossing a keyword into Google, finding an interesting site, and browsing until a dress catches my eye. Then I set about trying to 'recreate' it in SL. Note I did say, trying to recreate, because the end result never seems to look anything like what I started with!

I usually rez a prim or two and see what I can make of it. My original skybubble was the result of playing with 10m hollow spheres. I have temporarily abandoned it for a free house I was given that I remade into a houseboat - it just cried out for it!

And sometimes inspiration just strikes... I took a tortured torus class, and just as I was getting ready to leave the instructor announced that before we left, she wanted us to make one thing out torii. I really wanted to just leave, but I didn't want to be a jerk, so I thought, "Oh, alright, I'll make SOMETHING." I pulled out a sit script from an earlier class and rezzed a torus. Thus was born my favorite two-prim barstool.

I heartily endorse the ideas of wandering around looking at other builds, rezzing freebies, and playing with textures. Or take some time off building and hang around until you discover something you need - then build it!

I just ran across a couple of SL versions of carnival arcade games. One, for example, was that squirt gun game where you try to shoot your water into a column and fill it to the top before anyone else...

They actually charged to play, too... L$1.

NCI also has their Building Blitz on Thursdays (newbies) and Sundays (oldbies). 40 prims and 40 minutes to build on the topic. It's fun just watching. Search for BLITZ in the Events tab.

my fave thing to do is see how many 10 prim rental booths i can make on a 512.