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

[thirdblindmouse]

I'm a mix of packrat and declutterer. I was raised by undeniable packrats, but I'm a bit of a neat freak, and I have a truly tiny apartment. I constantly strive not to become attached to things, because when I do I hold onto them forever. I have a lot of notebooks from when I was a kid, and my YA novels and children's books are slowly migrating to the shelves of my new apartment. I also keep broken objects whose future use I can imagine, but -- apparently unlike most people who do this -- rarely does more than a year pass before I actually use them.

[ratcreature]

My own problem is only partially attachment, but inertia and laziness. It's just much less work not to declutter.

[thirdblindmouse]

Ah, but it's a great way to procrastinate from real work. ;)

[ratcreature]

I rarely resort to things like cleaning for that. Feeling accomplished while still avoiding things I ought to do can be also achieved by compiling a new thematic list, updating a rec page, re-tagging my journal...

[thirdblindmouse]

Re-tagging is organization. It's all the same category, in my way of thinking. Thematic lists don't do it for me, though. My brain can identify less noble applications of OCD-ness with practiced ease.