I'm working on a new painting now and I'm in the final stages of cleaning it up, but I feel like it's taking forever! I'm starting to get bored but I have to power through it. Do you know that feeling?

STAYING FOCUSED

Here's the rough and finished version of Flourish side by side. The finished version looks a bit sharper and more vibrant, but for the most part they look the same. The thing is, this took me forever! I barely make any creative decisions at this stage - it's just cleanup for the most part. That's when the boredom really sets in for me!

If you struggle with the same thing, I've got a few tips for you - they always come in handy when I'm at this stage of the creative process.

01 // focus on THE edges

The idea of cleaning up every area of a painting is just overwhelming, isn't it? It also runs the risk of becoming overly smooth and clean, losing its expressiveness. My solution is to focus on cleaning the edges only. Ignore the other areas - once the edges are clean, you might find that those areas don't need any work after all!

02 // KEEP AN EYE ON THE THUMBNAIL

Digital painting is deceptive: we can zoom in endlessly and get lost in a minor detail. Then we zoom out and find that all of our hard work is doing nothing for the painting! That's why I always keep an eye on the thumbnail view. In Photoshop, I use the navigator window, and in Procreate I use the reference window. Don't get lost in the pixels! 

03 // LIMIT YOUR TIME

In my freelance work, I often found that a tight deadline brought out the most creative solutions! There was no time to get stuck on details: I had to paint quickly and efficiently. I often surprised myself with what I was capable of creating in limited time! That's why I try to limit the time I spend on paintings in my personal work, too. I schedule in my painting time and stick to it as much as I can.

 

If you found these tips helpful, I have a Patreon tutorial about this topic! It's called finalizing a painting without over-rendering.

 A LITTLE PREVIEW

Here's a sneak peek of the painting I'm working on! I've been obsessed with purple and dark themes lately, and I'm actually really enjoying this one. Once I manage to move past the tedious finalizing phase, I'll be posting it on my Patreon! 

tutorial shop

I know not everyone wants to take on yet another monthly subscription, which is why you can buy my tutorials as a one-off purchase! They cost $8 per video and I am adding new tutorials to the shop all the time. 

 

In fact, I just added a new one: Creating interesting & flowy shapes! This is one of my personal favorite tutorials that I've made. It talks about how you can cultivate your own shape language and implement them at every stage of the creation process!

get 50+ tutorials for $7

However, right now it's cheaper to sign up to my Flame tier, because there's a 30% discount for new members! For just $7, you can access the entire backlog of tutorials - over 50 of them. If you're curious about what my Patrons think, you can read their testimonials here!

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