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 #1408258]
(ETA: I didn't realize the crossposter would just link the poll, even though I can insert polls here too. I now included it manually here, or you can go to the DW version: View poll: packrat poll.
ETA2: Apparently one can't insert a poll when editing an entry? What? so I reposted here, sorry. *makes note to x-post polls manually the next time*)

Comments

[ratcreature]

Sometimes I like the finished thing, but to get there it took a bunch of horrible failed scribbles on which you can't even see a lot.

Somehow my process is mostly founded in inertia. Right after I finish something, I'm too lazy to bother sorting through things to decide whether I want to keep stuff, so I just put it into a pile I shove to the side, then after a while that pile gets in the way, so I dump it into a box... so I end up with boxes of crap layered like sediment.

[an-kayoh.livejournal.com]

I'm having the same problem with knitting right now - stuff made for other people or stuff that I can use never bothers me. It's the one mitten that I never finished a mate for, the socks I never wear, and the baby hats I keep around in case someone shows up suddenly pregnant that seem determined to bury me.