Should i feel bad ? - Coloring

[mayhem]

Hey,

Over the last few years I have used photoshop sporatically to color small pictures here and there, as a crash course in really learning PS, i have been coloring a full page drawn and inked picture i did 2 years ago, I have now been trying to perfect this page for the last year and a half ?! I have learnt alot, but i must of changed it completely at least 6 times and am only now starting to do the rendering.

Obviously the picture is valuable to me and i want to get it just right, but is this common ?

[amadarwin]

I don't know about anyone else, but for me, the need to rework artwork endlessly to get it 'just right' is a habit that's hard to break. There comes a time in every piece's existence where the artist needs to learn to walk away, to find that moment when the work is 'done' even if it's not 'perfect.'

[lancermonna]

Hey,

Over the last few years I have used photoshop sporatically to color small pictures here and there, as a crash course in really learning PS, i have been coloring a full page drawn and inked picture i did 2 years ago, I have now been trying to perfect this page for the last year and a half ?! I have learned a lot, but i must of changed it completely at least 6 times and am only now starting to do the rendering.

Obviously the picture is valuable to me and i want to get it just right, but is this common ?

Getting use to coloring an image takes times, I have worked on a single image for several months off an on myself, and have changed my mind of how the look should feel. The only problem is indecisiveness is your own worst enemy. You are your own worst critic and will make a lot of judgment calls on your work because you want your image to have that certain look and are unsatisfied with how it's turned out. Don't feel bad, it just means that you really want to do the work justice.

The only thing is amadarwin is right and said it best, getting it "just right" is definitely a hard habit to break and sometimes you really need to just take a break from the work for a while or come up with an idea of how you want the image to look and do not change or alter that plan. Ever. Complete it and move on. Otherwise it will be an vicious endless cycle of reworks and revisions for ever and ever on the one image. There will be other images and you will become better at making judgments on your works the more you do them. It's just the nature of the beast unfortunately.

[mayhem]

Thanks guys, both anwsers were right on the money for me, i guess being my first large page spread it has taken longer then usual and yeah, the need to get it 'just right' is a bastard affliction.