When is it good enough?

Part of learning to be an artist is learning when to stop.

Not because one is bored of the project, or because there's a production goal or time deadline, but because nothing more can be done to a piece that will improve it.

A time deadline can be helpful to finishing a project, (note that the OP can finish homework) because it can help the artist focus on the most important details that need to be adjusted, but the trick is learning to stop when you don't have to.

Being able to see that while the piece may have flaws, it's done and any more changes won't make it better, just different, is a skill that takes time to develop.

I see my students struggle with this on occasion, becoming mired in small details and losing sight of the big picture. Learn how to step back and decide if something needs fixing, scraping, or if it's as good as it's going to get, this time...Because any good artist is always learning and never completely satisfied
 
Mahoney said:
Part of learning to be an artist is learning when to stop.

Not because one is bored of the project, or because there's a production goal or time deadline, but because nothing more can be done to a piece that will improve it.

A time deadline can be helpful to finishing a project, (note that the OP can finish homework) because it can help the artist focus on the most important details that need to be adjusted, but the trick is learning to stop when you don't have to.

Being able to see that while the piece may have flaws, it's done and any more changes won't make it better, just different, is a skill that takes time to develop.

I see my students struggle with this on occasion, becoming mired in small details and losing sight of the big picture. Learn how to step back and decide if something needs fixing, scraping, or if it's as good as it's going to get, this time...Because any good artist is always learning and never completely satisfied
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I struggle with. I know this will change with time/experience but dang it, it's a struggle out of the gate!

Ed, I appreciate your as-is, lack of sugar response and use of the phrase "giving up" in such a "completed" sense.
 
If you have to work 100, then stop at the point of 30 or 40 percent is done.
See whats done so far, whats going on, and what will happen.
Then do another 30% of the resting wok, then another 30%, and so on.
This will let you approach the perfect asymptotically.
I generally give this up five or six times looped.

Improved skill lets me do 40 or 50% of work at one time, hence reduce
amount of work, time, and chance to make mistake.

This way of doing works in case of grinding/carving/polishing.
 
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