#i'll clean this up sometime just oughhhh

[the-mang0tree]

hello!! do you have any tips or advice on knowing when to stop and take a break instead of recklessly pushing forward for perfectionist artists like myself? i always keep pushing it and telling myself "just a little more," but end up biting off waaaaay more than i can chew. i think i might be a little too obsessed with perfecting and refining everything i draw, including sketches and simple doodles, when it's completely okay to just. leave it as it is!! and while it's probably not 100% bad, i don't think it's all that good for me in the long run, either i have such a terrible habit of turning something simple into something more refined. like, i'll have a nice, simple and messy doodle, for example, but then end up obsessively cleaning up the lines aka basically converting a sketch into inks when it should've stopped and stayed a doodle i'm sorry if this ask seems kinda overwhelming, it got somewhat long!! it's just been something that's been on my mind for a while now and i wanted to seek out other people's opinions on it...

oughhhh that's hard, but i get you !!! sometimes i'll be doodling something that popped into my head, then blink, and realize i just rendered the darn thing fghfhfgh

have you tried setting up timers? for like, maybe an hour, or an hour and a half? (or maybe 10 or 15 minutes, that's up to you !!) try finishing a drawing (or doodle) in that time, and leave it as it is when the alarm starts ringing. it'll help with how you manage time and keep the drawing detailed enough (but not Too Detailed) that it looks good enough, because you're not spending time on rendering Everything, but rather focusing on keeping the drawing comprehensible

or perhaps zoom out of the canvas from time to time? that's what i do when i catch myself detailing things, i zoom out until the drawing looks quite small (but not That Small), sit back on my chair and stare at it intensely. can i still see the details? are they That important to the whole piece? most of the time, you won't see them very clearly, and they might even be interfering with the flow of the artwork, and you Don't Want that !! (I know i don't). so if that happens, just stop, and leave the drawing be

sometimes a drawing doesn't have to look perfect to You, it can just look 'Good Enough', because chances are whoever sees it will think it's Perfect and Just Right !! like the cake image, the audience will be like "ohh cake, tasty !!!"