Enough's Enough!

Jennifer at Art, Words, Life posted a great poll on her blog yesterday.

She asks...
How do you know when you're done with a piece of art? Or writing? Or are they really ever "finished" at all?

I don't always know when a piece is really done either. Sometimes I overwork things. (I know on a recent piece I went back and re-did the eyes even though I thought they were finished long before.) I really think there are times when we don't want to stop working on a piece because we've become attached to it. I also think we need to get "used" to the idea of the work being done. If I can set it aside and come back to it later and it still feels done, then it's done! This goes for writing and revisions too. The whole looking at your work with "fresh eyes" works!

"...are they ever really finished..."
I think in most cases we can always look back on an illustration and find something we're not happy with or an area we would handle differently. Or in writing, a better word choice might come to you later on. But I think that's a good thing! It's what helps you grow as an artist. We are perfectionists. But then again, not everything can be perfect.

Then there are deadlines. They can make you decide a piece is finished real quick! And that is a real good thing! I like deadlines. Deadlines make things happen.

How about you? When do you know you're done? I forgot to say sometimes the opposite of not wanting to stop happens. Sometimes, I get tired of working on one piece and just want to be done!

Note: Anyone following my blog with a keen eye for observation, might recognize the corner shown above. Yes, I finished drawing Mary! In color. And yes, it was re-worked, overworked, and set aside for a couple weeks. I look at it now and it feels finished. As soon as I get a good scan of the final piece, I'll post the steps of how color was applied.