Get Your Creative Groove On. Week 18: Back Up

How to Get Your Creative Groove On is an original series by Perch. This week we discuss the value in taking a step back to gain a better perspective of the whole picture.

Week 18: Back Up

I recently discovered Illustration Art, a fantastic blog by David Apatoff. A few weeks ago, he wrote a post about illustrator Robert Fawcett. In his post (view it here), David zeroes in on small segments of a portrait by Fawcett and guesses at what they might be. The quality of each piece is so high that it is plausible that they could be individual sketches rather than part of a whole. One doesn’t realize until the end of the post that each snapshot is just a small part of the greater work.

Pieces of the Whole

Each piece of Fawcett’s portrait received equal attention and detail from the artist and played an equally valuable role in the finished work. However, until you back up to see the entire picture, it is impossible to know what image the artist intended to convey.

As artists, creatives, and innovators, it is dangerously easy to become fixated on the small details of our work. The shade of yellow must be correct; the figure’s shadow must be true to life. We are painfully aware of the details, and unfortunately, this awareness can hinder our creativity.

The Big Picture

In life, it is valuable to learn how to step back and understand “The Big Picture.” In art, being able to see the big picture is a must. Otherwise, we may master our small piece of the puzzle only to discover that it does not fit within the grand design.

So how can we apply this principle to our creative work? Here are a few questions that might help.

What is the goal of the project?
Who is this for?
Why am I doing this?
What is my goal? What is the group’s goal?

How do you apply the “big picture” concept to your creative work? Please post your thoughts and ideas in the comments!

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dcept

04/14 2009
Hi, Dee! Thanks for stopping by our blog and posting You’ve got a lotta good articles on here! (I digs guerilla art too!) Have fun with ArtRage and Sketchup! If you need some input or have any questions about the software, drop me a line either on the blog or the email I put in here. I’m the guy that uses those programs at our studio.. hehe..

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