October Discussion Journal (1st one!): Inspiration

Hello, everyone! Life has been busy, but there are so many ideas I would like to put down on paper. I would also like to help others out in the art community, which is where this journal becomes relevant.
For this journal, I would like to ask what inspiration is and what it means to artists. How do you get inspired? I know that fictional stories and characters have had some influence on my ideas and preferred style of creating art. Additionally, real-world events/discoveries (such as in the field of medicine and science) have contributed to an overall influence on my choice of topic when it comes to artwork creation. I would say that being inspired is important to creation in the way that it provides encouragement towards exploring a subject (maybe an artistic technique or a real-world topic) in a creative work (like in painting, literature, digital art, etc.).

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone once again for the birthday wishes (comments and notes)! I really appreciate that there are people out there who also look out for the happiness of others, even in what may seem like small ways. Thank you to , , , , , , , and . If I missed anyone or if you do not want to be mentioned in a journal, let me know!