An artist’s problem: the pursuit of perfection

Although some people have small faults such as gum-snapping or knuckle-cracking, as an artist, I have a different bad habit: I obsess over miniscule details, trying in vain to perfect my paintings and drawings.

I suppose being a perfectionist can be useful when school assignments require precision. Most of the time, though, I find myself wasting valuable time that I could spend starting and finishing another painting. 

During spring break, I took advantage of the free time to brush up on my digital painting, something I’d been neglecting in favor of speeding through all four seasons of “White Collar,” since watching too much TV is another one of my bad habits. After some deliberation, I chose to draw a portrait of the character Neal Caffrey (have I mentioned that I’m addicted to “White Collar”?), expecting the painting to be a straightforward photo study. 

Unfortunately and predictably, I realized my digital art skills were extremely rusty. After several hours of trying to draw the character accurately, I found myself spending even longer trying to make my painting perfect. I would darken the subject’s eyes a shade or two, make the background just slightly lighter, trim the canvas by mere pixels and then, indecisive, control+z all my changes.

My process of trying to perfect my painting dragged on throughout the entire day. I even found myself procrastinating by browsing various social networking sites, further delaying the painting’s completion. 

Digital painting programs, such as Photoshop and Paint Tool SAI, allow me to delete changes that would be permanent on a traditional canvas, so I had an unlimited number of chances to attempt to perfect my drawing. While this aspect is normally an advantage of digital art, in my case, it caused me to paint several different backgrounds and then, frustrated, revert to the original.

My mom, who must have been slightly exasperated after having seen me working on it for several hours, declared that I was finished with the painting and told me to move on, probably so I would not spend even more time holed up in my room. 

Unfortunately, the perfectionist within me refused to follow the advice. After almost another hour of working on the painting, I decided that I was done, closed the paint program and put away my graphic tablet with an air of finality.

In hindsight, I realize that I could have spent much less time on that one painting. To break my bad habit, in the future, I’ll attempt to paint in one to two hours. That way, I’ll have plenty of time to both draw and watch TV. On that note, anyone want to re-watch “White Collar” with me?