“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” — Carl Jung
Here are some of my thoughts on perspective:
Perspective isn’t just about camera angles, it’s about depth, form, volume, distance and scale. It’s also about confronting the unknown.
Seeing the world from someone else’s perspective is the foundation for empathy. Your art also requires you to understand its nature.
Practice seeing things from various viewpoints whether it be a subject being drawn or the subject of ideological discourse. It’ll keep your mind open and fresh.
If you feel stuck, work with different techniques, different materials if need be.
Ask yourself, does your work tell the action or does it give the feeling of the action? The latter may be more important.
Sometimes we need to find ourselves lost in order to learn how to create ourselves.
Do not confuse stiffness with stillness, one indicates death, the other something brewing with energy that’s about to blossom.
Find and create changes in your art, for without change there is nothing stated.
We must alternate between challenge and bliss, between action and rest.
Take the perspective of seeing yourself from above or from behind — it’ll alter your opinion of yourself greatly. Do the same with your work — see it flipped on its side or view it mirrored.
Don’t be hard on others and don’t be so hard on yourself either. Take a kinder view to life and life’s participants.
As an artist, sometimes it’s good to imagine doing another job, one with little creativity or personal self-expression. A sense of gratitude will re-emerge and you will gain energy from that.
Look at your work as a whole; don’t let busy work take the place of important work.
Art is about relationships. See shapes, lines, colors and movements in relation to one another.
If you’re an animator alter between being an actor and a visual designer. This means taking a broader perspective of your craft.
Always be building skill, for without skill you will not be able to express your ideas with strength or clarity nor will you have much fun.
Do not always look at your work so analytically or mechanically, listen to your feelings about. That nagging voice that is your intuition exists for a very good reason.
If you feel creatively dry, look to nature and look at the work of the masters. Great art spawns life.
When you’re feeling rushed, remember time is actually on your side. Don’t be fooled by the fallacy of efficiency.
Strive towards a vision but not towards what you already know or know how to do.
Try to see the model or character from the inside out. Build your work and yourself from the bottom up, like architecture.
It’s good to periodically see your work as if you’re the client, the buyer, the audience but always make your art your own.
Investigate and explore your tools. Poor control of technique is a tragic way of failing your art.
Your mind is a great tool, but remember it’s just a tool. Use it in its proper time and place. Incorporate deep-time thinking.
No one knows the complete truth, so looking at things from different perspectives is our only hope of avoiding complete ignorance and limiting destructive action.