packrat poll

[ratcreature]

I'm wondering what other people do with their preliminary sketches and stuff. For each actually finished piece of fanart I end up with a pile of more or less awful and hideous half abandoned sketches, rough composition doodles, sketches to work out body parts, perspective, color, textures, sometimes just a couple, sometimes dozens and more. I have packrat tendencies in general, so it is hard for me to throw things out, but otoh, what do I need a pile with failed sketches of mishapen half-finished stuff for, once I have finished the work?

So I'm curious what other people do:

Poll #452 packrat poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

View Respondents

How much of a packrat are you?

View Answers

I keep everything, I might become/already am famous and my complete work process is worth preserving for posterity. Future scholars will love my estate. (If they ever manage to find anything in the boxes full of junk.)
1 (12.5%)

I keep some preliminary work, but only if the study/sketch/doodle/whatever looks nice in its own right, might be still of use for something later, is in a sketchbook which I keep intact, or I have some other reason for keeping it. The rest I throw out.
2 (25.0%)

I throw everything out that I don't need anymore once I'm finished with a piece of art. Decluttering is my lifestyle choice.
1 (12.5%)

It's not so much that I want to throw things out, but periodically circumstances (such as moving, running out of space etc) force me to, so I have purges.
2 (25.0%)

I work fully digital, so I don't produce these kinds of paper piles in the first place (and digital storage is cheap and plenty these days).
1 (12.5%)

Your radio buttons oppress me with their limited choices. I will explain further in a comment.
1 (12.5%)

Comments

[goss]

I find it gets easier to let go of things with time. After about a year I'm much less attached to all the little bits and pieces. I usually only keep one or 2 prelim sketches if it's a study I think I might find useful again. It's kind of liberating to only hold on to the final thing and get rid of the rest in one fell swoop. Start afresh.

Also, these days I've gotten into the habit of using sketchbooks. It's a bit of a pain to carry round a heavy book when I feel like drawing, but on the other hand there's a lot less clutter going on in my room. :)

[ratcreature]

I have weird issues with sketchbooks. I mean, with nice sketchbooks I get all verklempt and can't actually draw in them. My brother gave me a sketchbook as a gift once, and it has a real nice paper, but I just don't dare to scribble on it, because it such a waste to use good paper for sketches. I often use cheap small notebooks with blank paper to carry around and sketch in those, and these do keep down the clutter. But notebooks are inconvenient to use with a lightbox. You have to scan and then print.

[goss]

HEE! I feel your pain! I have, sitting right in front of me, a *gorgeous*, perfect sketchbook that I got as a present. I've had it for months now, but it's still blank. I just can't make myself mark up the nice clean pages. :b

lightbox

Oooh! I always wanted to get one of those. *adds to growing wish list*

[ratcreature]

Mine isn't actually a real bought lightbox, I built mine myself from some wooden slats, a piece of slightly frosted glass. It's not perfect, because I didn't get the lamps fit inside to illumate all evenly, but it works well enough for my occasional use and cost very little.

[lim]

*barges in to say*

I have this exact same problem with sketchbooks. I had to start mine thinking of it as a piece in itself, like a sort of stone age vid--it was the only way I could mark its beautiful pages!

[gnatkip]

I am glad to see other people with the same weird sketchbook issues. My people!

[ratcreature]

Hee. Shared neurosis ftw. I now mostly stick with cheap office supply notebooks, where I don't feel too bad when I draw some failed scribble, like half a body with a leg in wacky proportions attached wrongly, and don't feel like I wasted special paper.