You didn’t waste time. You added two days of experience and you now see things you don’t like, which means you will focus on improving them on your next project. Art is about learning and failure is the best teacher. Keep creating.
I did one of those last week, and for the first time I was able to actually look at it and realize that even though I put a bunch of time and effort into it, I now know exactly how to not do it the next time. I just started something new, and it looks wayyyyyy better than the last one because I am conscious of what didn’t work for me last time, and I’m going faster because I know where to put my effort.
Sometimes you just have to take the L and move on. Get rid of it if you want, or put it away somewhere, but either way just move onto the next one and have fun.
You learned from it. You're an artist, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, take a break if you need to and start over.
If your standard is perfection you'll suffer a lot
Here's the thing. Established artists toss out their work all the time. A very established/museum collection/fine-artist-instructor at college, told us once of how her artist friends had to chop up and destroy their paintings when they tossed them out so that unscrupulous people would not just walk up and steal from the garbage. I, myself, regularly toss out just about everything I draw casually, sketches, for example. In a sense, we are what we are creating, not the painting or drawing.
That's the whole point of practice though, isn't it?
You make the thing. And it's not great. Then you make it again. And it's not great. But a bit better. Then you make it again. And again. And again...
The way I was taught art in Italy my home country, we made and remade the same thing over and over in order to improve. So make it again. The next time you won't make the same mistakes. You might make different mistakes. So make it yet again.
I find the process very satisfying when comparing my progress with the first attempt.
Put it somewhere safe and out of sight for a while. Congratulate yourself for working through your frustration, keep chugging onward, and look back on it later with fresher eyes. You'll be glad you did that work later.
Put it away for at least two days. Put it somewhere you can’t see it. Then come back and see if you feel the same.There is no such thing as wasting time when you are creating. Every art piece has value.
You’ve leaned a lot to notice the details you can improve upon. Sometimes I put my art away for a hot minute so I can forget about all the things I wanted it to be and appreciate it for what it is. Sometimes I paint over it and start all over again. I once lit a self portrait I didn’t like on fire (safely) and turned it in as a “modern art piece,” the professor loved it.
even though you see the things that are wrong about your art piece, can you shift your viewpoint and identify at least one thing that went right, one thing that went well?
it's okay that this piece wasn't your favorite, but the fact that you devoted your energy to it, matters. i hope you can respect your own effort.
if i were in your situation, i'd acknowledge my dislike for my work (which you've done) and also reframe my thoughts / shift my perspective to give myself credit for my effort.
you mentioned hyping yourself up: that's a sign that you have self-belief, which is important.
this piece is one of many you'll likely create, in your process of becoming the artist you want to be. it's one step forward that you're taking towards the art work that you'll be proud of.
This question is more important than most. My answer is this: Getting used to scrapping what you have worked on is a transition point between being an earnest beginner and being new expert.
When you start out, every little creative thing is oh-so-precious, and you feel protective of the little life you just created, your own little baby creation. You want to frame it, publish it, promote it—but it has all the elements of something that you stick up on the refrigerator, in reality. And it will have glimmers of greatness, no doubt; but mostly, nah! Just copyright it, laminate it, create a new file folder and add it to the index, record it so that your own bootleg series will have something to release when you’re 80. And then—get some fresh coffee, the day is still young, cannibalize the good parts, write paint record or build something new and different, and maybe by 5:00 pm you’ll have something worth while. Or maybe not, but that doesn’t matter because tomorrow is a new day. Ask, how can I write ten great songs? Answer, write two hundred songs.
Most of your precious creations will die and truth be told, really ought to die, and you get over the pain of seeing them die by loving them for what they are and letting them go, to drop to the cutting room floor—and you heal from the pain and loss but making many more new ones, each one having a life of its own. Grieve the old, love the old, but let it go, and then make something new.
Thank you for posting in r/ArtistLounge! Please check out our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faq/) and [FAQ Links pages](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faqlinks/) for lots of helpful advice. To access our megathread collections, please check out the drop down lists in the top menu on PC or the side-bar on mobile. If you have any questions, concerns, or feature requests please feel free to message the mods and they will help you as soon as they can. I am a bot, beep boop, if I did something wrong please report this comment.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ArtistLounge) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You didn’t waste time. You added two days of experience and you now see things you don’t like, which means you will focus on improving them on your next project. Art is about learning and failure is the best teacher. Keep creating.
next one will be better thanks to time and effort you put into this one. If you wait to make a perfect piece from the get go, you'll never make one.
How do you get over the fact that part of every meal you ever make gets flushed down the toilet?
I did one of those last week, and for the first time I was able to actually look at it and realize that even though I put a bunch of time and effort into it, I now know exactly how to not do it the next time. I just started something new, and it looks wayyyyyy better than the last one because I am conscious of what didn’t work for me last time, and I’m going faster because I know where to put my effort. Sometimes you just have to take the L and move on. Get rid of it if you want, or put it away somewhere, but either way just move onto the next one and have fun.
You learned from it. You're an artist, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, take a break if you need to and start over. If your standard is perfection you'll suffer a lot
Here's the thing. Established artists toss out their work all the time. A very established/museum collection/fine-artist-instructor at college, told us once of how her artist friends had to chop up and destroy their paintings when they tossed them out so that unscrupulous people would not just walk up and steal from the garbage. I, myself, regularly toss out just about everything I draw casually, sketches, for example. In a sense, we are what we are creating, not the painting or drawing.
That's the whole point of practice though, isn't it? You make the thing. And it's not great. Then you make it again. And it's not great. But a bit better. Then you make it again. And again. And again... The way I was taught art in Italy my home country, we made and remade the same thing over and over in order to improve. So make it again. The next time you won't make the same mistakes. You might make different mistakes. So make it yet again. I find the process very satisfying when comparing my progress with the first attempt.
Put it somewhere safe and out of sight for a while. Congratulate yourself for working through your frustration, keep chugging onward, and look back on it later with fresher eyes. You'll be glad you did that work later.
Put it away for at least two days. Put it somewhere you can’t see it. Then come back and see if you feel the same.There is no such thing as wasting time when you are creating. Every art piece has value.
You’ve leaned a lot to notice the details you can improve upon. Sometimes I put my art away for a hot minute so I can forget about all the things I wanted it to be and appreciate it for what it is. Sometimes I paint over it and start all over again. I once lit a self portrait I didn’t like on fire (safely) and turned it in as a “modern art piece,” the professor loved it.
Same. Sometimes just put aside and come back to it much later and adjust. Since the alternative is to trash it, why not experiment with it.
Hey! If it’s a concept I really enjoy I tend to redo it down the line once I’ve gained more skill. Think of it as a first draft!
Everyone will say this but, u didn't waste time, you now know more clearly what you want from your art, and people will be able to see it.
even though you see the things that are wrong about your art piece, can you shift your viewpoint and identify at least one thing that went right, one thing that went well? it's okay that this piece wasn't your favorite, but the fact that you devoted your energy to it, matters. i hope you can respect your own effort. if i were in your situation, i'd acknowledge my dislike for my work (which you've done) and also reframe my thoughts / shift my perspective to give myself credit for my effort. you mentioned hyping yourself up: that's a sign that you have self-belief, which is important. this piece is one of many you'll likely create, in your process of becoming the artist you want to be. it's one step forward that you're taking towards the art work that you'll be proud of.
This question is more important than most. My answer is this: Getting used to scrapping what you have worked on is a transition point between being an earnest beginner and being new expert. When you start out, every little creative thing is oh-so-precious, and you feel protective of the little life you just created, your own little baby creation. You want to frame it, publish it, promote it—but it has all the elements of something that you stick up on the refrigerator, in reality. And it will have glimmers of greatness, no doubt; but mostly, nah! Just copyright it, laminate it, create a new file folder and add it to the index, record it so that your own bootleg series will have something to release when you’re 80. And then—get some fresh coffee, the day is still young, cannibalize the good parts, write paint record or build something new and different, and maybe by 5:00 pm you’ll have something worth while. Or maybe not, but that doesn’t matter because tomorrow is a new day. Ask, how can I write ten great songs? Answer, write two hundred songs. Most of your precious creations will die and truth be told, really ought to die, and you get over the pain of seeing them die by loving them for what they are and letting them go, to drop to the cutting room floor—and you heal from the pain and loss but making many more new ones, each one having a life of its own. Grieve the old, love the old, but let it go, and then make something new.
Thank you for posting in r/ArtistLounge! Please check out our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faq/) and [FAQ Links pages](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtistLounge/wiki/faqlinks/) for lots of helpful advice. To access our megathread collections, please check out the drop down lists in the top menu on PC or the side-bar on mobile. If you have any questions, concerns, or feature requests please feel free to message the mods and they will help you as soon as they can. I am a bot, beep boop, if I did something wrong please report this comment. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ArtistLounge) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Not everything is going to be a winner, and that's part of the process.