True creativity requires eclectic influences, wide interests, and multidisciplinary dot-connecting:
"If you like fantasy and you want to be the next Tolkien, don’t read big Tolkienesque fantasies — Tolkien didn’t read big Tolkienesque fantasies, he read books on Finnish philology. Go and read outside of your comfort zone, go and learn stuff."
Kurt Vonnegut tells 8 keys to the power of the written word - I find the same is true for the painted picture.
"Tell your story. Don’t try and tell the stories that other people can tell. Because as a starting writer, you always start out with other people’s voices — you’ve been reading other people for years… But, as quickly as you can, start telling the stories that only you can tell — because there will always be better writers than you, there will always be smarter writers than you … but you are the only you."