When Should You Abandon An Illustration Project?
Art by Miranda Hoover
When is it time to quit? Should you ever drop a personal project permanently? What do the pros do? This week, Jake Parker, Lee White, and Will Terry discuss the reasons behind dropping projects, whether to revisit them later, and how to know if it’s time to move on to new ideas.
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SHOW LINKS
ABANDONING PROJECTS
Have you ever abandoned a project?
Will has folders full of projects he has started but not finished. What are your ratios that you are glad that you abandoned the project to wishing you had finished?
Lee: There is always a reason that I abandon something. If I felt strongly enough about it, I wouldn’t have abandoned it. Or I would revisit it. The only reason I abandon a project is if I get it to 80% but can’t get it over the top, so I leave it for later. I abandon 10 projects to every 1 that I complete.
Will: I agree. If I count things that are just ideas and not things I work on, the ratio is a lot higher. You have to come up with a lot more ideas in order to make a few gems. You have to sift through a lot of stuff. It’s about 1 in 10.
Jake: That ratio works for me. The majority of my projects that I abandon, I still want to figure them out and make them work for me. Some of them, though, I don’t want to go back to.
A couple years ago, Jake was working on a children’s book idea. It was great. He would throw ideas out to his editor, and none of them would stick. Then finally he made an idea that was good, and went through 13 different dummies before they finally abandoned it. Why did they abandon it, and why didn’t it become a finished product? What are the reasons to abandon projects, and is it ok to do so?
After Looper, Johnson had an exciting idea for a sci-fi film but after spending over a year trying to crack the script, he couldn’t get anywhere with it. “I had the concept for it, but looking back, I realized I kind of put the cart before the horse, like I was kind of seduced by what was cool about the idea, but I didn’t have a grasp of the heart of it or what it was really about.”
Johnson was tight-lipped on what the premise for that sci-fi film would be, stating, “I’m still hoping that I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and say ah-hah it’s this!”
Don’t confuse passion for a project with momentum.
Momentum might be a bunch of different variables that could get in the way of your finishing the project. It’s okay to let those things take priority in your life until you can get those obstacles out of the way.
Why did Lee abandon some of his projects?
Lee: It goes back to school and the learning phase. Artcenter gave you 4 years of brutal foundation work. The next term, they let you make whatever you wanted to make for two years. There were no assignments, just make great stuff. I finished everything those two years, never abandoned a project. The number one reason I abandon projects as a professional is because the client either can’t see the same vision that I have for the work, or they dilute it to the point that it stops working. Professional rejection.
WHY WE SHELVE OUR PROJECTS
What about personal projects?
Opportunity cost. When you make a decision to do one thing, you by proxy say no to everything else you could do with that time. Lee is unsure right now which professional gigs to pursue for this reason.
Will’s game Superstick didn’t work out because they didn’t have enough manpower on the programming side. The scope got out of control, it was impossible to predict. However, Will learned a lot in making the game.
He has also abandoned a lot of children’s book ideas for a similar reason — he didn’t feel like he had the skill. There were too many stories that had narrative problems that he couldn’t fix, and he couldn’t get his critique group interested. Will also only probably has a few hundred hours writing children’s stories, so he doesn’t have enough investment in making something he feels he can present.
Sometimes critique groups go deeper than needed when discussing children’s books. Children’s books are allowed to be simple! Not every character needs a dark backstory or a singular motivation. Children’s books don’t really need high stakes!
Sometimes it’s fine to write for commercial success rather than critical success.
Have you ever shelved a project through self-censorship, or because you think the editor will shoot you down?
Jake: Yeah, there are times where I don’t know who the market would be.
The market that produced Tintin might not exist in modern day USA. It’s always great when you can do something that would sell and is also something that you’re passionate about, but it’s not a guarantee. Who wants something that is cute but is also for adults.
Lee hopes that if he’s excited about something, there will be someone out there who will be just as interested as well.
Publishers want to sell millions of books, so their books need a wide appeal. But for niche topics and ideas, you could do great on Kickstarter, enough that it would be worth it to pursue publishing in that avenue, and putting in the extra work.
Are you passionate about it? Passion can sometimes bust through a lack of momentum or other obstacles.
What was it that inspired this idea in the first place? Were you inspired because it’s something you really want to make and put out into the world, or were you inspired by wanting a book to be published and winning an award? The second one is not enough sometimes, to get you through a project. Every project goes through a valley of death, only the ones that you are passionate about can really survive that valley.
Sometimes, you can work on a project for over a year and nobody will see it during that time. Serialized releases can be extremely good for getting consistent feedback and motivation.
Will had a difficult time pitching his book, Penguins at Play, because of publisher woes. They said it was too scary, even though a lot of people liked it and said that it wasn’t. That’s one great thing about crowdfunding, because you can publish without having a huge amount of money.
Lately Jake has felt a little lost in his career — he’s done children’s books for 10 years, before that animation, he has also done Inktober and concept art. He feels like he needs a new career shift. He has focused so much on the business side of art, and getting a stable income, and getting a presence online, and time and project management, and his art has atrophied. He has gotten good enough to get by — lately though, he feels unsatisfied with his abilities.
Don’t ever make a decision when you’re sick. Wait until you get through your fog before you make a decision. Caveat: if your life has changed, it’s okay to abandon something. You can move on if you have changed.
GIVING UP
Lee has seen animation students who bail because it’s a lot of repetitive drawing just to make a one minute short. A lot of the time, they like animation, but they don’t want to make animation. What do you like to make, and what do you like to look at? Sometimes you have to go to art school to realize you aren’t in the right place. Sometimes you have to go down a trail and realize that it isn’t the destination you want to go down.
This also applies to individual illustrations. Sometimes the composition is really bad and the image can’t be revived — it needs to be started over from scratch. Starting over a ton of times can be good if the reason you stop is because you don’t like the idea any more. If it’s because you get to a hard part of the design process and you don’t want to go through it, you just need to power through.
Sometimes we see other people producing work that looks effortless or seems like it takes them little time, but this is often false because of social media.
Lee had a student who did not give up when they ought to have. They worked on a single story for many years, only including that in their portfolio. Sometimes you need to branch out and abandon your “babies”. Will doesn’t understand that — there are lots of people who have one thing that they want to make, and want to publish. Most pros make stuff constantly.
There is also the myth about the writer who gets one hundred rejections and finally pushes through and makes it. This is not always realistic. If your work keeps getting rejected, sometimes it might just be bad. You should not be the person with only one story, but be the person who has 100 stories. Sometimes when you get rejected, they will ask “what else do you have?” Or you might get published and they will ask “what will you do next?”
The person who brings the same project back a year later, they don’t get super excited about it every day. The passion dissolves over time. It’s impossible to bring fresh eyes or new passion to a project that you are stalling on.
HOW TO GET OUT OF THE RUT
If your options are to abandon the project or finish it, finishing it should be the fastest, smallest viable version you can make. Maybe just release your concept art and notes — an exploration of the world that you’re building. If it’s a children’s book, polish the illustrations as much as you can and then sell it online or make it free so that it exists and is something someone can see.
If you are going to abandon it, it should be for a great reason, like:
You’re no longer passionate about it. Maybe your lifestyle changed in such a way that the idea no longer appeals to you, maybe you aged out of it. Maybe you have kids and don’t have the time. Maybe you “lost that lovin’ feeling”. Maybe your identity has changed and your tone has changed. Maybe your priorities have changed and you just need to focus on making a steady income.
Maybe the scope has changed. Has it gotten way bigger? Has it expanded from a short story to a graphic novel to a series of graphic novels?
Time. Maybe your life has changed.
Maybe your ability isn’t there yet. Your critique group isn't into it, your editors don’t like it. Your vision exceeds your ability. Maybe come back later.
Is there still a need for this project? Does the market want it? Do people need your project? Take a good honest look at your work and determine if it’s a knockoff of something else or if it is unique enough that people need it. Is there a viable audience? If it’s determined to be a small audience, be okay with that.
Don’t feel guilty about abandoning a project if you need to. Super successful artists and creators do it all the time.
Will loves having new things to work on. New projects can be so invigorating for creative types, so keep working on new stuff!
LINKS
Jake Parker: mrjakeparker.com. Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44
Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArt
Lee White: leewhiteillustration.com. Instagram: @leewhiteillo
Daniel Tu: danieltu.co.
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