HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'RE DONE?
Entry 8
I wrote this blog quickly without lots of serious thought, so feel free to jump in on this one!
How do you know when you're done with a painting or drawing? I've been asked this a lot. I do remember a time when I didn't know this myself. To me, a work of art is done when it's complete, that is, when anything you do will no longer improve the piece within the scope of your present ability. You may come back to a piece days, months, or even hours later and see that it still needs work. So I added the "present ability" to my definition.
Some things that can influence your decision to call a work "finished":
- Many people consider a work of art unfinished until it's framed and on display.
- What is the desired "end" for the piece? Is it going to be published? Displayed on a wall? Often a work's end result determines how you handle the work. Example: If it's to be published you know from experience that the printing process has a tendency to deepen contrasts, drop out midtones a little, lose highlights, weaken color, and more--so you might tailor your work to handle these tendencies. So it's not done until those highlights are played up more than usual, or the color is punched up a bit.
- When at the Kubert School we had so much work piled on us that "done" often meant just having something to show so that the assignment wouldn't be an "incomplete." Joe Kubert told us to strive for quality in every piece and still make the deadline. Sometimes you have to let quality slide some to make the deadline. So, in this case it's done and out the door but could still use some improvement to make it a better piece.
- Joe would say, "If it looks right, it is right." Then call it done.
- If you can work on a piece and put all your ability and hard work into it without any time constraints, then in this case done (for me) is when I can no longer improve it. But, you can almost always find something to change or fix. So, realizing this, if I have to get into seriously re-working an area I will either call it not done, or say, "Forget it, it's good enough."
- When you can't stand looking at the damned thing any longer.
- If I look at a piece and it feels like I put the best of my ability into it, it's done. But if it's not good enough to show or print, then I call it not done and put it away until I can see it again with fresh eyes. If I feel like I could fix it but hate to get into it because I don't want to deal with it, then it's not done, and either sigh and get on with it, or put it away for later.
- I've painted enough now to know that when I get to that point where I'm just screwing around and dabbling here and there for no real reason, then I know I have to stop and decide whether it's done or not. One powerful way to deal with this is to force yourself with every brushstroke to ask yourself if what you just did is "correct", and has a specific purpose in furthering the piece towards its final desired outcome, if it explains the figure or form properly, and if it is the right value, color, etc. If not, change it, and try again until you get it right. Don't put anything down unless it works. You may have to really look and pay attention, but this is decision making at it's finest, most anal point. Methodically pursuing this approach will eventually take you to the point where you can say, "Nothing I can do now will make it more right. Everything is where I think it should be, and as it should be."
- Some artists have a specially designated piece sitting in their studio and they work on it every so often over the span of many years or even decades!
- When someone or maybe another artist says, "I don't think you should touch it." Is it done?
OK, enough of this, I'm really reaching now. I hope this helps someone.
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