Perfectionist

Why do I have to be such a perfectionist, especially when it comes to anything art related. I want the finished product to look as realistic as possible, without any flaws, and I rarely give myself a break. I know that this characteristic can be good to a point, but then I also need to learn when to say something is good enough.

Last night I was waiting for my husband to get home from some late night meetings, and was in the mood to draw. Some customers on the board were asking for some "realistic" frog stickers. Normally I've been using other techniques to do them on the computer, because they are more realistic looking. This time I thought I might as well at least sit down and attempt drawing a frog. So here's what I ended up with.
It's not bad... but the perfectionist part of me kicks in and says it still looks too much like an illustration, doesn't look really realistic and that I should probably just stick with the computer generated stuff. Even though I seem to get more satisfaction out of it, if I had drawn it all by myself. I used watercolor pencils and could probably get more of a realistic look with oils.. but I don't have that much time on my hands. I also need to realize that there is a difference between a realistic frog and photo realism drawing of a frog. I need to accept the fact that I will never be a photo realism painter. Not in a million years. I do not have the patience to do so, I get bored too easily with it and want to move on, and it drives me nuts to pay that much attention to detail.

So get over it Shalae. You are not inherently a photo realism painter. So don't beat yourself up with your perfectionist tendencies when it comes to your art.