A bit like a polygonal jigsaw puzzle - - Thoughts about perfectionism

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Unfortunately I am a perfectionist when it comes to my artwork. I say unfortunately, because that means that I can put hours and hours into one single illustration and still not be satisfied with the results. Sometimes weeks pass, on one project it even took me years till it was finished. That is not an effective and economic way to produce stuff.

That being said: There is something about perfectionism that I find absolutely fascinating :) Searching for the perfect outcome can be deeply satisfying (and also soothing in a way), like doing a complicated jigsaw puzzle, trying to solve a math problem, working on solving a riddle. It is this state of being highly focused, simultaneously trying to form and find the idea in your head and transferring it to the page or the screen, trying and trying again, to get it just right. And if you finally found what you were looking for, that feeling of accomplishment is just absolutely awesome (and also addicting ^^). The POLYGONS kind of thrive from that. The main joy for me in creating them is searching for the perfect shape, putting them together piece by piece, line by line, as simplified as possible but still representing the character of the animal they depict.

To be honest I don’t think that my stuff is even close to perfect. Most of the time, after I have finished a picture and thought I had it, I start to see several flaws. That is a huge problem of perfectionism. You compare yourself on such a high scale and you are trying to achieve something, that is practically impossible to achieve by a human being, that you will most of the time come out of it unsatisfied. But those few times that you reach it, that you are actually satisfied with a picture even after weeks have passed, that feeling of accomplishment I think is sometimes worth all the troubles and the hours of searching nonetheless.

So I am kind of torn when it comes to perfectionism. I see the negatives and I know that they are severe, but I do also absolutely acknowledge the positive. So my solution to this is doing multiple art series at a time. Learning how to be content with “not perfect” for most of them and therefore being able to produce more pictures, but celebrating perfectionism with the one project, the POLYGONS :)

I guess, what I am saying here is: You are most likely going to see some other stuff on this blog soon ^^

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