How do you know when you're finished working on something?
polycounter lvl 19
This is a very important trait to have as a professional artist - knowing when the piece is done and its time to move on. And I'm not talking about when your lead or AD walks by and tells you its great and to move on.
I don't want to taint the discussion with my own opinion early on, so I'll wait a bit before jumping in.
So, when do you - Joe Professional - know when your piece is finished?
I don't want to taint the discussion with my own opinion early on, so I'll wait a bit before jumping in.
So, when do you - Joe Professional - know when your piece is finished?
Replies
However, this is my model for finishing work/understanding goals:
http://the99percent.com/videos/5822/seth-godin-quieting-the-lizard-brain
What have they done or included that I havn't, why is theres better then mine?
How can I make this better?
Sometimes I will leave a peace a few days so I get past the thrill of 'wow i finished something' so I have a new set of eyes to analyze and see my mistakes.
From there I use the same techniques and artistic decisions for the other assets. Not all assets should look amazing on their own, I think of the big picture and an asset is "done" when it fits in the scene, adds to it in a positive manner and leaves room for my other planned assets. That is the scene still requires those other assets in terms of color range, composition, etc.
Obviously if i'm working from concept it's done when it looks like the concept and there aren't any texture seams or texel density problems!
Edit: Yeah, i agree with what you guys are saying about checking online, you definitely see where the bar is set checking out pimping and previews. You gotta take that with a grain of salt, it takes years to get that good and as long as you can look back at your work and it's gotten better you can call it "done", how much better than your old work it has to be than your previous to be done is up to you. Trying to rush to the end can actually slow you down, good art is created from the ground up, as they say you can't polish a turd (cept on mythbusters).
If you aim for amazingly bad ass at the start of your artistic career, you'll never finish, I try to pick up new techniques at every phase of creation that'll make me faster and ultimately better, since i can spend more time without getting burned out. Lets not forget that a lot of game art these days is made by many people, you might be judging your work against a guy who does only zbrush scultps for months on end, doesn't UV, doesn't Model, doesn't texture. If you're trying to get your high poly bake as good as that dude's, you'll never be done.
Glad i grew up :P or am growing up..
Also, by this criteria, I don't have as single finished piece.
-Leo
Anyways, on a more serious note.. Art is finished when I reach the goals i set for myself at the thumbnailing stage, the client is happy, and the quality of the piece lives up to my own standards. I don't dwell too long on pieces, since i know that a couple of months from now I'll hate it, and could do a way better job. A couple of years back I'd pick up old pieces and continue working on them, but these days I've realized that its better to start a new piece with my current skillset, and keep whatever it was that was working in the old piece. (color scheme, theme, subject matter, composition etc.)
I remember when I was at uni I got ripped a new one by a professional graphic designer, so bad in fact people told him off for being over critical just because I went down an illustrative root to a poster design. But it really hit home that if people can see flaws in your work then it can really damage the whole piece.
If I am making art for myself then I try to make sure and make the judgment call as to whether to continue or not when I first sit down at my desk in the morning, or at least at some point when I'm not all emotionally invested in it. That way I know I'm getting a good honest answer from myself as to whether I have done the piece justice.
As for an exact metric, well I don't think there is one, because the criteria are numerous vary so much per project.
when you start adding those little things that don't "read well" with the big picture of what your trying to accomplish then your done.
when your at that point, sure adding something else may make it look better, but is it worth the time to do that, is it really gonna impact the overall "feel" of the piece your attempting to create? that's what i try to ask my self. if the answer is no then i finish up and move on to something else... most of the time
unfortunately i cant stop time and work on something for as long as I'd like to... wouldn't that be nice :P
Mostly regarding the process, but that's definitely relevant when it comes to completing something.
Nice link SupRore, benefited from watching that. (:
There's a monkey in the jungle watching a vapor trail
Caught up in the conflict between his brain and his tail
And if time's elimination, then we got nothin' to lose
Please repeat the message; it's the music that we choose~
It is common sense that you know you are spending hours on something so tiny and yet unseen from a players/ viewers point of view. You know deep inside that you are wasting time... And I am especially talking about us who are perfectionists in every way or obsessed on the other hand with our work
Also the deadline you have for the week REALLY makes a huge factor in terms of the way you organize your time. For example: you have 3 props to finish during this 1 week: sink, screen monitor and a Tricycle. A smart person would start from large objects to the smaller ones, because of what I mentioned above ^
But honestly, I finish it when the work itself says: 'Don't touch me!'... I meant, when all you add it doesn't make it better.
Do you enjoy the journey along the way or do you like the sense that you finished something.
I prefer the journey.
Professionally, when it reaches the tipping point that the time spent polishing could be better spent on something else.
In a professional setting, either that or when my deadline is up, whichever comes first
Its really hard to give a definite non cloudy answer (other than that one), it just depends on the project and the goals of the asset. We usually get everything to 'good enough' point, and then we polish as much as we can until it's time to ship. At least that way things are consistent and you aren't tempted to make one perfect masterpiece of beauty, in amongst a forest of underworked turds
Essentially, if what I am doing to the particular piece is no longer adding to its quality or effectiveness as a whole, then it is finished (or I am finished with it). It is up to me, as a 3D artist, to know when that is.
Plus I dont do 'polish' very well. I dont have the patience. I'd rather smash out something to get it in the game, make it work and then move on. As long as it fits in with the other parts then its good.
In the end its about the game, not the one prop/character you are making to put in it.
+1 for me.
My last project, I was animating on a kids show and we were doing 30-40 seconds a week (60+ in crunch). I realized after a few weeks that the director did not know much about animating and yet his opinion was obviously the final say. Rather than constantly asking for crits from talented co-workers, I showed blocking to the director for approval and then avoided showing my work until it was ready for final. I avoided unnecessary (but high quality) feedback from peers that would have pushed my work further but at an unacceptable loss of time.
It took me a while to accept that I was only getting paid for a certain level of quality; I have high personal standards and "settling" for lesser-quality work was difficult... but knowing the target level saved my sanity (and health), and I always have personal work to scratch that itch for super-polished stuff.
like so:
When you improve as an artist the curve changes and you can keep it up for longer, since workflow improvements and experience with problems speeds up things. I still remember when I first started normal baking I could see the benefits, but highpoly modeling and baking everything was just way over my head, now it's not much of a big deal anymore.
The problem I have run into in the past was not spending enough time polishing, so I've tried not to do that here and gone to the other extreme; where all I've done is waste time. The time I'm wasting is not just time when I am working on it, it's time where I am not working on something else because I still don't think I'm finished. That is the real problem.
This is where I am, and I think from now on I'm going to try to work like this. Not get caught up in nonsense.
Nothing bugs me more than art that doesn't fit in with the rest of the game, IE too high res, low res, too high poly, too low poly, too detailed, or not enough detail.
This sounds exactly right to me, but of course it depends on what its for and if you have to match a certain art style on where you should be stopping.
that.
Or when you run out of time :P
nah, its really up to the individual expectations of what the piece should be imho.