New Perspective

Bringing your own view into a new perspective

Today I would like to explore another field for drawing: your own point of view. This own point of view, which every human being carries within him or herself, is a habit, something unconscious. When we draw, we look at objects and things and then try to represent them accordingly in the drawing. And so, it’s very, very good to change our point of view. To change our perspective. To look at things from a different angle.

Find a place where you are guaranteed to have a familiar view. The view of your bookshelf. The view from your balcony. The view of your breakfast table or work desk. The view of what surrounds you in a garden, of a tree, of a flower. You may have a favorite place where you often like to sit, and you choose one of those. A place that you’re really fond of.

At this place you look around. Then, take your camera or your phone to extend the angle of your eyes. For example, you can zoom in a little and thus enlarge what you see. Or you can shift your field of vision. This is just one possible suggestion.

If you take only a small section that you enlarge, through zooming in you create an interesting detail for your picture. So, you can zoom in on a section in your field of vision, or you look at something from below. Something where you have to lift your head. For example, a tree from below. This is especially nice in the forest, where you can only see the treetops and how they stand in relation to each other.

They frame your picture, while between them you can see the sky. Or you can look at flowers and focus only on a certain edge or petal. Or you can look at a staircase, change your point of view and suddenly perceive the staircase in a completely different way.

Or you have a chair in the garden, where you usually sit and enjoy the warm sunrays. Then you can walk around your chair and look at it. Or you take your camera and take a picture from below. Suddenly you’ll have a completely different perspective. It can also be your house, your balcony, a table, a glass, or any other object. Capture it from a completely different angle and make it the subject of your drawing.

What often helps to change the point of view a little is the shadow the object casts. This shadow provides you with a distorted, entirely different view, depending on the incidence of light.

Experiment and play a little with your perspective. You are free to choose what you look at and what you create from this new perspective. This is especially stimulating because it’s infinitely expandable. You can study several things from a new angle.

You can concentrate on the surface. You can look only at the lines of the contour. You can study the geometry anew, the variety of forms and shapes. Of course, always with the greatest awareness on the tip of the pencil and the vibration of the line.

You are very free, but you keep in mind all that you’ve already learned from the last impulses. Take it with you into your own drawing experiences and into the new ideas that will arise.

This conscious step towards a new point of view is also always necessary to rethink your own opinion. To get new perspectives on situations in life. To see a problem you can’t find a solution for or a question in life you don’t know the answer to from a different position. To put yourself in a different pair of shoes. When you draw, you can too take on a new role to change your point of view. You can imagine, how would a little child see it? How would a queen see it? A peasant?

A celebrity if you can think of one? A pilot, a pole vaulter, a swimmer? You can take that question aside a little bit and use it to discover that new perspective. And very often, if you don’t know the answer to a question, you’ll say to yourself, “Okay, I’m going to draw this.”

Problem X is a triangle, problem Y is a circle. And you’ll play with the circle, put the shapes on a sheet of paper and then change them around, modify them, experiment with them. It’ll feel like the sun is coming up and casting a shadow and then the shapes will enter into a dialogue and so on. You can come up with a variety of stories for this perspective.

As always, leisure is something very important. To be inspired it needs a certain lightness, a form of attention, wonder and loving care. For what you are looking at when you draw, but also for yourself. The love for your own creative work is a very important prerequisite.

Embrace this love in your new perspective and your consciousness.