Monday, June 8, 2009

You ever have one of those days...

...where it seems that everything you do sucks?
Yeah, me too.
Sometimes I look at my work and all I see are my mistakes, stuff that is wrong, off or otherwise out of whack.
I tend to be my own worst critic. I think part of this has to do with being a creative person and knowing every single stroke of the pen or pencil intimately. I KNOW where all the mess ups are, even if the AD doesn't see it.

It's pretty rare when I submit a piece of work and am actually satisfied with the result. Usually I reach a point in the work where I have to draw a line and call it complete, like it or not due to my level of ability weighed against time constraints. I haven't had an AD come back yet that was unhappy with my work...or at least they haven't said so. I still work with all the ADs I've done work for in the past, so my assumption is that i must be doing okay.

That said, OKAY isn't good enough. I know I can do better. I draw every single day, and some parts get easier...some parts I still struggle with.

I think that the problem is just me: I'm never satisfied with my work. It really doesn't matter how well I do...I still see the flaws. I think that's why I do depend on outside critique (and kudos). I have a hard time patting myself on the back.

2 comments:

Christopher Burdett said...

Thanks for posting this! Right there with you on all of this... It is so great to hear it from someone else. Helps me to not feel alone and crazy about this stuff :)

I love it when I am sketching in public out of necessity or pleasure and someone comes up to me and comments, "it must be so wonderful to be able to draw."

There is part of me that twists up inside when I hear that... and I reply , "yeah... it can be fun." ...when I am not stressed about whatever hang up I am fixated on.

There is some satisfaction to know I will always be my worst critic and my strongest advocate.

Thanks again for posting your thought on this!

Matthew James Stanham said...

Yes, indeed; sometimes I can look at the same piece of writing on two or three different days and come away with a very different impression of it, from extremely negative to extremely positive.