Quitting Renderings @ 80% Bad?

Tyson Ranes

Hi I recently quit a new rendering at about 80% finish so I can come back to it later....maybe much later. It is just for personal portfolio use. I plan on working on others then coming back around when I am not sick of looking at it. Does anyone here do this? If so has it been beneficial or harmful to you the piece you set aside? Has it helped with your overall work in accomplishing your goals? I am considering posting this 80% rendering and getting some help with it on this forum only I am beat and dont know if I want it shown let alone look at it again.

So I sometimes work on Final Illustrations for a week or two so rendering objects in my composition requires some type of break. Otherwise, my life would be one long all-nighter. If you want to show to 80% render then I'll be happy to critique and hopefully help you when you finish the piece.

Let me quote from my favorite book and 100% recomend for all kinds of artists 'The Big Bad World of Concept Art for video games' which talks about setting up a portfolio, what school to go to, and how to improve as an artist. The quote says,

"I noticed that when asked, most students answered that they might spend from 2 to 10 hours on each art assignment, and that was good enough for them. I spent 20-plus hours on each one, and it showed. I wasn't more talented than the other students, and we were all learning the same skills at the same time, but because I was able to spend longer hours developing my talent, I quickly distinguished myself from the rest of the class."

I hope I'm not miss-interpreting your question, but I believe that it's okay to step away from artwork to soon come back and finish. I always try to tell my self to spend the time and get it right. I'd then like to quote my favorite artist @Jake-Parker who says,
"Finished not Perfect"
So remember that, art work can be frustrating at time, but we all need things that are finished now and perfect later.

Hope this helps. I wish you good luck!

Tyson Ranes

@Ben-Migliore thanks for the quote and thoughtful reply, definitely grabbed some nuggets from it to meditate on. I'm in the throes of learning loose and tight renderings how much is overworking a piece and how much is to little. I'm going to step away from the current rendering I'm working on and revisit it afte I get the river flowing in creating something else. There are some foundational problems with the piece I overlooked that I didn't discover till I started the render, so that is the biggest hang up at this point. I appreciate the encouragement and advice always good to receive! Thank you I wish you the best on all your current projects and look forward to seeing more of your work. Thanks again for the support!

mcucchi

I'm agree with @Ben-Migliore. I listen to that Jake Parker video all the time (Finished, not Perfect); because I personally need to hear it over and over. I think the best thing to do in a situation like is have a realistic conversation with yourself. Why are you stopping at 80%?

If you take the rendering to your idea of 100% (that 100% mark is an opinion, not something set in stone), will you ever finish it? That last 20% can last a lifetime for artists who are perfectionists. If that is true, it's worth it to determine an end point and stick to it. Come back later if you want.

If it's a matter of burnout, then you can push yourself. Force a little more time and motivation out of yourself and get it done. Take a day or two away from the piece and look at it again with fresh eyes. You might have a very different opinion about how much is left to do at that point.

Good luck!

MirkaH

I often feel during some point in the middle that my pieces are awful and there is nothing I can do to fix it. but I keep chugging along and in the end they come out in a way that I am happy with them. i would not put something down for a long time, because things change in between, and I would not be able to get in the same mood again to finish it.

@MirkaH to your last comment I find it nice to find music that relates to a certain mood or anything else that relates whether it's music, a video, inspiring speech , anything that reminds you of that mood whenever you come back to work on artwork

MirkaH

@Ben-Migliore i would never remember what i had been doing when creating artwork from a previous point in time. lol its usually just background noise for me.

bharris

There are things that I have set aside and didn't touch again, and I'm honestly happy with that. I ended up doing work I much preferred to forcing myself through something like this. On new projects you'll remember the techniques from those "practice pieces" so it is worth the time you've already put in for that.

There is nothing wrong with taking a break from something you are sick of! I would just have a plan in my head of when you're going to go back to it (if you really want to), because you may dread it too much and never go back.

K. W.

@ben-migliore Such good advice + quote, thank you! I sometimes have this unrealistic expectation that I can sit down and produce an illustration in an afternoon... Doesn't usually work out haha!

Chip Valecek

I just came across a video of some one talking about habits of artists. One of the habits he talked about is to work on multiple pieces at once. This way you do not get sick of working on one piece. I am currently trying this with three different pieces and I find I am not getting sick of working on just one. Before I would work on one piece and at some point get bored/tired of working on it. But by switching between them I find when I come back to one I enjoy it, and I also find things that may look wrong that I over looked.

Tyson Ranes

@Chip-Valecek Yeeahaw! I like

NoWayMe

@Tyson-Ranes I always work on multiple things at once like @Chip-Valecek suggested!

Especially when working on children's book, I love to have several illustrations going on at the same time. 1) It keeps me from getting bored 2) I like to be able to look at illustrations with fresh eyes after working on something else for a while and also (and this is more for children's book or if your are doing multiple illustrations for a same project) I feel like if you are doing them sequentially, the last one risk not looking similar to the first one. For example, for a picture book, you get used to the style of your picture book and your characters after a few illustrations and they might change a little bit over the process, so if you work on various images at once and keep jumping from one to the other I personally feel it helps keep things more unify... but maybe that's just me (and my experience with doing picture books is limited to 2 books!)

Tyson Ranes

@NoWayMe Excellent reply, great points!!!!
Im sold. Thank you