Partly Perfect
*Note - this is part 4 in a series. Read the others here.
If you (like me) are afflicted with perfectionism, the old aphorism, “perfect is the enemy of good,” is easier to write in a newsletter than to actually apply to your own life, whether in your work, parenting, hobbies, or anything else, for that matter. I have never been able to totally shake off my own clinging cloak of perfectionism, but I have learned a little hack that allows me to function normally, meet deadlines, and even produce a lot of pretty good stuff — in fact, some of that stuff is perfect. The important word in that last sentence is, “some.”
Tell me if this scenario is familiar: you are working on a personal project —could be drawing, woodworking, sewing, playing a piece of music or anything else that requires a bit of skill — and in the end, you have done a more than passable job at getting it right but there is one mistake; a wrong note, a misplaced line, a wonky corner … and it’s ALL you can see. It’s somehow bigger than anything else in your field of view, like that bright red beacon of a pimple on your forehead on prom night. Know the feeling? Perfectionists certainly do.
Instead of fixating on errors, shortcomings, and the like, what if you could retrain your brain to seek out the one tiny part of your creation that was undeniably perfect? Pure excellence? The pinnacle? This is a learnable skill. And it makes all the difference in helping you to reframe not just your view of your own work, but your view of the world. Powerful stuff!
It’s really nothing new; a bit of glass half full, and all that. But this specific technique is especially important if you want to build a brand or release a product into the wild. Instead of striving for something to be ‘good’ rather than perfect, strive to make it good, yes, but really NAIL one aspect of whatever it is you are building. Maybe even two. Because if you do that, people will notice. Especially if you direct their attention to those perfect bits.
This is what I did with my brushes. I knew my early brush sets were good — certainly better than average. But out of about 30 decent brushes, there were two that I knew I had absolutely nailed: the Ultimate Rough Inking 2 and the Gouache a-Go-Go. I have created over 2,000 brushes in the past nine years, but these two early brushes remain the favorites of thousands of artists around the world. They were (are!) perfect, and I knew it from the moment I made them.
Knowing this, I employed the strategy the music industry has used for decades: when releasing an album, make sure it has at least one guaranteed hit (preferably two) and then get the hits into heavy rotation to drive sales of the entire album. People used to buy entire albums for a single song (did you?), even if the others songs were far from great. I knew my brushes were generally good, and I knew I had two objectively excellent brushes; if these brushes were an album, they should, in theory, be quite successful.
So, I used social media to reach out to numerous professional artists and offer them a few free brushes to try and I made sure the Ultimate Rough Inking 2 and Gouache a-Go-Go brushes were always included. The sample art I created most frequently to advertise my brush set featured these two brushes, as well. In a short time, pros were calling out my ‘hits’ by name, even in the credits of their work! Comics art maestro Paolo Rivera even included a shout-out to the brushes in his first digitally-drawn issue of The Valiant. Whoever heard of a comics artist mentioning specific Photoshop brushes in the back of the book? It was amazing.
My perfectionism could have gotten in the way of me releasing those early sets, especially with my frequent tendency to work on an individual brush for days at a time. However, I was able to shift my thinking to believe that if all of the brushes were above average (objectively ‘good’) and at least one was truly perfect, then the perfection of that single brush would elevate the entire collection and customers would be satisfied.
Fortunately, I was right.
From that moment on, I redefined what a successful brush set was for myself: all brushes would need to be above average, and a small few would be developed to a level of undeniable perfection. This satisfied my perfectionist tendencies, provided each brush set with some ‘hits,’ and allowed me to release more products out into the world in a more timely fashion, confident they would sell.
Ask yourself:
Can I spot the moments of perfection in my work and help others to see them, too?
Are the perfect parts of the things I create (even if very small) enough to bring up the overall level of quality?
If the answer to both of these questions is, ‘yes,’ then you can usually get that work out the door and move on to the next thing. I believe a smattering of perfection on a layer of ‘good’ is a dish worth serving.
Next time: How I managed to quadruple brush sales by giving things away for free.
Ciao for now — Kyle
Digital Art Resources for You
Lately, I have been making a lot of short-form video tutorials for Photoshop and Fresco. You can find them all on my Instagram feed here. Enjoy!
My Lasso Fill tool has been updated - you can now not only draw rapidly with the Lasso tool in Photoshop, but also delete! Check it out here.
Wow great advice! I hadn’t thought of retraining my mind. I also love the idea of one or two “hits” on the album concept. Thanks!!!
Great insight, Kyle. Reading through this first email, I was immediately struck with the idea: “I could learn a lot from tires guy.”
I’m looking forward to your next newsletter and encouraging a book down the line.