Used to obsess over every single pixel before posting. Now I hit export and move on.

Back when I first started sharing my digital paintings online, I would spend about 2 hours after finishing a piece just zooming in at 400% to tweak tiny brush strokes nobody would ever notice. I was convinced that if the edge of a shadow wasn't perfectly soft, someone would call me out in the comments. But after getting like 12 pieces stuck in my hard drive for over 6 months because I kept finding "flaws" to fix, I realized I was just burning my own time. One night I decided to just upload a piece I considered 90% done with a few rough patches still visible. Nobody said a word about the rough spots, and three people actually commented asking about my workflow. That was maybe April last year and I haven't looked back since. Has anyone else just started shipping work earlier and felt that weird relief?

3 comments

3 Comments

nora_park1mo ago

Counterpoint to @christopher943, sometimes that last 20% is what makes the piece sing.

ryantorres1mo ago

Used to be all in on the 80% rule, thought that last bit was just perfectionism noise. But a couple projects where I actually pushed through that final stretch ended up being the ones people really connected with. It's not about polishing for polish's sake, it's about finding that one detail or shift that clicks everything into place. I keep my 80% rule for drafts and rough pitches, but I'm way more patient now when a piece feels close but not quite there.

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christopher9431mo agoMost Upvoted

Start posting stuff at 80% done now. Way less stressful and people still like it. The extra 20% was just me spinning my wheels.