Artists: Do you believe in keeping every single piece of art you've created? Including completed commissions, sketches or studies never posted, unfinished projects, etc. Why or why not?
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No, I give every single piece away. The joy for me is in the creative process, once I am finished I am not interested in keeping it around. I get much more joy from seeing someone else enjoy it.
Well, for me I throw away my old art I think looks.....awful- like doodles I did as a lil kid in those shitty anime styles... um when it comes to digital it REALLY depends- if I like the way I drew it, I might keep it but most of the time I delete when I need more room for more art and you?
When I was younger, everything I created was "precious," and I hung on to it. I released my emotional attachment and can now view my work with a more critical eye. That said, if it's contract work, I save EVERYTHING because 5 years from now, someone is going to ask for a revision.
Honestly, I get jealous of everyone who has kept their art even from childhood. It's not something I could do in my life till a couple years ago. Like a photo a picture can invoke so many memories and it's just a good way to see how you've grown as a person.
Yes, it can show as a reminder that even if you feel like you haven’t improved, you can look back at older sketches and finished pieces to see how much you’ve grown as an artist. Sure you may cringe at the idea, but I think that’s just more proof that you have done better.
Never get rid of old work!
Not any more. Part of the reason I switched to installations from photography was the sheer amount of prints I was now responsible for, I had switched from painting to photography before that for the same reason.
Art takes space, and without a studio or funding you cannot explore ideas due to space
i think for the purposes of seeing your evolution, i personally thing a good thing to keep! i have sketchbooks from 2005 to now, but i've lost everything before that
but on the flip side, if it doesn't spark joy to keep it, don't keep it lol. at least take photos of physical art to keep on computer
i do believe in it because drawing is a journey but i do not apply it to myself all the time as i do not have space nor do i want to remember bad memories
Yes, to all of the above, and partially it’s because I want to be able to always look back as a motivating factor on how far I’ve come, and also because I think I have a serious hoarding issue 😂
I believe in keeping art so I can track my progress, but not every single piece, that feels like overkill. I usually preserve only my best work from any given time period.
As a digital artist, I do a lot of recycling of images. I keep everything so I can reuse it. With my paintings, I want to sell them or give them away. My grandmother was a prolific painter who never wanted to sell her work. Now her paintings are just sitting in my garage. Not the outcome I want.
In some form I have some pieces dating back to when I was a teenager. But I was always my own worst critic and there's way more of my art that's either deleted or in the trash than what I can salvage.
It's better than nothing. I wanna save what I have now because I'll never be young again.
Some stuff I believe is worth keeping but old art hurts to look at more often than anything. One part wants to be proud of the progress I made since then and the other wants to kill it with fire.
casual artist, but yes - I save EVERYTHING. I love looking back at my work and seeing what I did, like flipping thru a sketchbook. I too have it saved on an external hard drive.
I habitually get rid of things I don't think I'll need anymore and when it's art I always regret it eventually, I've found. I have almost none of my art from before I went to college and it makes me sad sometimes 🥲 I think it would be wonderful to look back and see my progress if I could.
I was gonna say no but...when I look back I kind of do LOL
I guess it's good to keep to look back (if you dare) and see what progress you've made. Or if there's something unfinished you still like, you can go back and finish it 😗
Nah; not even pictures. Part is lack of storage space. Part is that a representative sample can show progress w/o needing everything. Part is distancing from disappointments when things don’t turn out as expected.
I try to just keep what I really like and throw away the rest. I have so many half baked ideas and one off drawings that keeping everything would be inconvenient, even digitally.
Maybe consider putting some files on a cloud storage (OneDrive, Google Drive, etc)
External drives can be damaged, wear out, or misplaced. So its good to have files in more than one place
I still have artwork from when I was 4, along with all my other pieces over the years! Zero intention of throwing em out. It's like taking a trip down memory lane. All of my past interests and influences are on full display—along with the growth in skill. And I can get some inspiration from em!
I like to keep everything because every piece eventually becomes nostalgic. Sometimes, I look back at them to compare my skill level, but it’s mostly for memories. I even prefer to keep layered files over flattened ones for the same reason.
nope, but i keep some for memories sake and to see how far i’ve come. some drawings really don’t need to see the light of day again tbh. i rly only shelve the sketches and wips i actually feel like i will work on again
Valid. There are several I've scrapped over frustration for not turning out how I intended. Sometimes it's better to start fresh than hold onto a project that no longer serves purpose or not making progress.
right? i know sometimes i can get really caught up on the fact that something isnt turning out like i envisioned but stepping back and just starting over usually helps me work through that
honestly i discard like half my X-ray negatives because they're bad, sometimes it's necessary to just let stuff go. that being said, i'm looking for better archival materials
I usually try to keep it all, but sometimes it gets lost to digital oblivion due to a misconfigured cloud back up. I don’t know why, but it’s nice to come back and see how far I’ve progressed or to finish an unfinished piece
I could say YES? For the journey. But I’m pretty sure half of my old stuff is long gone, so it’s a NO by circumstance 🤣. I AM bummed out about not having my very first digital color illustration bc it was me conquering my coloring jitters AND my official foray into Photoshop as a medium of choice.
I find it hard to delete works or completely get rid of them so I keep everything on external hard drives or stored in boxes. Even if it's not posted or shown I like to have them as reference points in my journey.
I like to keep some, because bot only is seeing progress fun, but because some of my favourite pieced have come out of reiterating on a good idea from years ago by just stumbling upon an old piece.
I made it, I own it, even if it's a commission. I keep it in an ever-growing folder on my laptop and back it up to a flash drive when I can remember to.
No,1 to declutter space.I'm 34 If I kept everything I'd be burried in old work 2. not every piece still has something important to remind you about / Sometimes it's just a crappy stale picture with nothing left to say or teach you so it's time to let it go.
I probably save about 95% of my "artwork" and that's because it's mine. Sometimes I revisit my old sketches and want to redraw/modify them. It's like a scrapbook of growth.
I try to, when I first started digital art I posted it all to a Tumblr account I eventually deleted, and when I realized a few years later the gravity of that I mourned. And then I found all my old art on Google drive and it was fine lol
This is however why I try to keep all of my art up after I post it, even if I don't end up liking it. I like looking back. For physical paintings though, I keep the good ones and paint over the lesser ones but I keep pictures. They will have to do as canvas is expensive
I do! I need to get a new external for art and art only but yeah I try to keep everything I make. Partially from being screw and losing YEARS of work multiple times. Now I'm super diligent about keeping my pieces, even if its just a cheesy sketch.
Digital wise sometimes I keep them, unless it's an EXTREMELY rough sketch that I forgot what it was, then I delete it for space. I keep most of my stuff even if it's not to my standards or a really rough looking piece.
Anything for Ex-friends, I delete, cause... nah. I wanna get rid of ALL that ✌️✨
I threw away some old paper sketches in books many years ago cause a pushy ex-friend wanted to look through my books, even though I didn't want her to.
Now, I do regret it, cause they were more fandom, cringy things I drew, but I didn't want to be judged as a kid so I tossed them. I miss them.. :(
Yeah I keep most of my art (both traditional and digital) unless it's some really illegible doodle or a study I don't care about. I like to go through my old sketchbooks and files to see how I've improved and changed as an artist over the years.
I don’t know why I would throw something out, they stay in books and files, etc. I’ve deleted some digital art I no longer value, I guess that counts even if it was only a couple pictures.
I’ve kept most of my art from the very beginning till now, and I’m so grateful I did because I think it’s a good reminder of the journey I’ve been on. I personally enjoy looking at my silly pokemon fanart from childhood as well as work from just a few years ago💖
I have a number of HDDs full of drawings, models and commissioned work somewhere, but I would not hesitate to throw them out if I moved. The only limit I would set is a 3-5 year stay of execution for professional work, just in case the clients need a version again.
nah i throw out sketchbooks when i'm done w them. digitally sure i don't actively delete, but i just factory reset an old laptop to give it away without saving 5 years of files that were on it
It depends,
I've definitely lost old art over the years. My rule of thumb is importantance>quality.
If it was meaningful to me, even the silliest doodle I'll try to save.
Some of my most praised art I've let lose if I had zero attachments to it y'know?
I keep it all and move work that is 5+ years old into a “deep archive” that I revisit when necessary.
Been creating for a long time and every now and then it’s surprising to see old work that brings up old memories or just plain forgot about. One’s work is your history. Cherish the investment.
I don't keep old stuff intentionally, but I do like to go back and see what my art looked like in the past. But I'm not so attached that I feel bad when it's thrown away.
I like to keep most of it to see how I’ve improved, and it almost always brings back memories of when I was making it. I regret getting rid of sketchbooks and drawings when I was younger bc I was embarrassed by them. I would love to redraw those pieces with the skills I have now
occasionally. When I was 12 or 13 I threw away a ton of my old art, I regret it fairly often since I'll never really be able to compare the old stuff to my new stuff effectively. I have some pictures of the old stuff saved, but it's only a portion of what I drew then.
I keep most of it as way to look back on how much I’ve grown as an artist, how I improved and what can still improve on, as references, and for a bit of nostalgia
Esp when I look back at old elementary/middle school drawings it makes nostalgic and gives me a nice laugh sometimes lmao
I generate mountains of doodles on sketchbooks, so I usually store old art in dusty spaces around the home. I think I keep it not for the me now, but for the me who might want to forgotten little moments that brought me joy.
I try to keep as much of my old artwork as I can but I don't have the best storage system so inevitably some of it gets damaged and needs to be thrown out, I want to switch to a digital archive system and then sell/giveaway traditional pieces that have already been archived
Absolutely! Not only does it show you’ve progressed in skill, but the art themselves are full of memories of where you were and what you were thinking in that moment in time. It’s nice to look back on and remember :’)
Uhh depends for me. I've done digital and traditional, so medium plays the part too. My digital stuff actually still rot on my laptop so if one of it missing i'm either 'oh shit' or 'oh ok' reaction.
But if it's ver important project, I store them in the flashdisk, at least.
Ya, sometimes an idea emerges from looking at the pattern of drawings that I've been making. Marks have ideas like words, and sometimes I want to hold onto it and explore it a bit more...
Yes? Of course? For archiving if nothing else, but also it's very helpful to look back on old work, both to see how you've grown and as inspiration. You never know when an idea you couldn't manage before is just what you need now.
Not commissions, obviously. But I’ve clung too long to my own work. Now with much of it in storage for years I can say I’d part with it for a good price. I’ve learned to let go. The art is for getting it out. After that, where’s the point of hanging on to it?
Used to rip pages out of my sketchbook but it's so much more embarrassing to have somebody ask to see your work and have *nothing* to show for it. You also can't do a before and after!
My memory's terrible these days, so it's great to revisit old ideas like new every now and again as a bonus
Yes Usually I Keep Everything because if I have Art block or Feel down on my art I can look at my old art and see how much I improve and how a lot of stuff changed over the years , sometimes old ideas 💡 make new excited ideas for my art 🎨
Ye, almost everything I could (a lot of my art school works got lost). They are tiny windows of who I was before and bookmarks to see if I lost something in my process throughout the years, like ease or joy. I try to always remember the joy.
i absolutely believe in all of it, especially traditional artwork!! i love looking back at where i started :3
i do sometimes erase sketches im not happy with but its only in the making art phase :D
I have been lucky as I never had to keep any commissions. I have kept some, which I thought weren't good enough, and sometimes, to my surprise, someone will say they like it and buy it.
While I certainly don't think you should hoard old artwork excessively, I do think it's nice to keep it around. It serves as a good means to see how far you've come along! Moreover, old art can sometimes have ideas that you may find worth revisiting, like a scrapped character design.
Hmm, I only vault the art that came from a dark place or usually someone I’m not cool with anymore.
Everything else I keep in my drive just to look back on. Brings sweet memories and nice to see progress in my own personality and character through art.
I try to keep all of it just because idk letting go of art seems sad because it's nice to see how I improved plus if I ever lose something I have like 2 or 3 back ups of it
As long as it's not shamefully bad I generally keep stuff. It's nice to see my progress over the years. There are some things though that are just infinitely cringe and are best experienced by not being re-experienced.
Yeah typically I keep pretty much everything, it can be nice to look back at how my style used to be, and I can remember how my life was back during those times 👐🏾
I have already in the past but since my time in school it's helped to kinda justify(?) the behavior. My instructors have said to keep ahold of those pieces however big or small for work to pull from for what a portfolio is specifically asking for. Larger body of work, larger net to cast y'know?
I’ve kept some select pieces for folio purposes but I’m not afraid to bin art , I even reuse canvases a lot lol not for lack of care but I feel it’s just part of art , yknow? I dunno that’s just me 🫠
Yes. I still have art from when I was 7. I can't physically bring myself to get rid of any of my art unless it's just a circle or something, which includes any doodles on old homework and even art I did on a receipt once. The majority of storage on my PC is old art. I will keep it all until I die.
I once nearly got into a blood feud with my neighbor's granddaughter who was visiting because we were coloring in a coloring book, and she wouldn't let me rip out the page I had finished. I was 7. My mom never saw that work I did, and it haunts me to this day... 😅
If it's finished yeah. But it goes into a dark box and I never look at it again. If it's in a sketchbook, maybe. Depends on how decently filled the pages are and the quality of paper.
If it's loose leaf or on inexpensive paper?
Recycling baybee~ I live in an apt. I have only so much space.
Digital stuff gets stuck in some folder forever and never sees the light of day. That stuff I'll rarely delete. I'll just draw over it.
Same for expensive papers or sketchbooks. If it hurt to buy it, it's getting painted over and over until I'm happy enough to put it in a dark box with all the rest
Yes, I keep everything, and it keeps on piling up haha. I went to back my stuff up and there's 50gb from just the last 5 years. 🫣 I do intend on cleaning it up but it's hard to let a lot of things go. I put effort into that!
Yes. It can be its a building block, a reference for the future. , A color or texture or group of words that establish where your creative self was at at one time.
yes!!
i used to delete my old work because i was a cringy teenager, different phase every week and thought last week's phase was cringe. and now i kinda regret it. i only have a few pieces i made over 10 years ago 😔 but it's nice to see how much i've improved.
I like to keep everything as best I can, I have note books that date to about 5th grade with art? It's a bench mark of where I've been and where I'm going, plus I love reusing old ideas and developing them for my current tastes.
I believe in keeping every sketchbook and notebook. It's a documentation of your creations and something your geriatric self will thank you for. Also, your friends and family will be grateful for those when we are not around any more.
I still have work of mine from back when I was a pre-teen. I’d say I hold onto it because for how many times I’ve moved, how much random chaos I’ve been through, that work has made its way with me as being one of the few things I have that’s survived getting destroyed.
I have most pieces ive made since childhood. For me it feels like a photo album but of my art. It draws all the same emotions and memories as a picture so it been hard to let most pieces go, finished or unfinished
Nah I’ve thrown some of my puppets out or scavenged parts from old ones for new projects. Space can be an issue - I just don’t have room for them all! I also have an emotional attachment to some others and will keep them forever. Like this guy
I don’t think it’s necessary to KEEP everything, but I do document everything. For some projects I document the process as well. Usually I document with photos, but I put proofs and sketches in my art journal to keep a project log, marking completion.
I've only really kept the art for a 2 page comic. Alot of the time I cant stand looking at anything I've made. Feels like the labor put into making the pens and paper was squandered kind of vibe. This feeling though isnt good so I try and not give it much weight.
I have inevitably abandoned/lost a lot of my art due to forces outside of my control. Some pieces were created for others, and thus not retained by me by design.
I don't think I have ever intentionally thrown anything out besides ideas/drafts that didn't pan out to anything I enjoyed.
nope I don't like hoarding objects even digitally, I finish then post then and at the end of the year do a cleanup and delete it all
I hang onto files of for sale packs and comics, which include collections of many of the pics involved, but sketches and unfinished things must be done or get gone
Though I don’t do full traditional illustrations (I like my undo button), I do scrapbook some of my sketches and doodles to digitise later or to refer to when my skill level slides back like Sisyphus.
Comments
Never get rid of old work!
Art takes space, and without a studio or funding you cannot explore ideas due to space
but on the flip side, if it doesn't spark joy to keep it, don't keep it lol. at least take photos of physical art to keep on computer
It's better than nothing. I wanna save what I have now because I'll never be young again.
Still have the arts from 2016 prior to look back on how i come so far
I get paranoid about losing a resource or old idea I'd want to revisit. If I run outta space, I have a home network to back things up onto. :)
Recently I was forced to get rid/lost a lot of old work (complete and incomplete) so I am kind of starting over. It has been nice
I guess it's good to keep to look back (if you dare) and see what progress you've made. Or if there's something unfinished you still like, you can go back and finish it 😗
External drives can be damaged, wear out, or misplaced. So its good to have files in more than one place
but a plumbing leak, fire, or building collapse could take them all out if you are in the same place
Just for myself to look back on
Unless it sucks. That's a different story.
Anything for Ex-friends, I delete, cause... nah. I wanna get rid of ALL that ✌️✨
Now, I do regret it, cause they were more fandom, cringy things I drew, but I didn't want to be judged as a kid so I tossed them. I miss them.. :(
I've definitely lost old art over the years. My rule of thumb is importantance>quality.
If it was meaningful to me, even the silliest doodle I'll try to save.
Some of my most praised art I've let lose if I had zero attachments to it y'know?
I have every intention of digitizing it all then burning it to ash in my backyard. I don't need that baggage.
Been creating for a long time and every now and then it’s surprising to see old work that brings up old memories or just plain forgot about. One’s work is your history. Cherish the investment.
Esp when I look back at old elementary/middle school drawings it makes nostalgic and gives me a nice laugh sometimes lmao
But if it's ver important project, I store them in the flashdisk, at least.
My memory's terrible these days, so it's great to revisit old ideas like new every now and again as a bonus
i do sometimes erase sketches im not happy with but its only in the making art phase :D
Everything else I keep in my drive just to look back on. Brings sweet memories and nice to see progress in my own personality and character through art.
If it's loose leaf or on inexpensive paper?
Recycling baybee~ I live in an apt. I have only so much space.
Same for expensive papers or sketchbooks. If it hurt to buy it, it's getting painted over and over until I'm happy enough to put it in a dark box with all the rest
i used to delete my old work because i was a cringy teenager, different phase every week and thought last week's phase was cringe. and now i kinda regret it. i only have a few pieces i made over 10 years ago 😔 but it's nice to see how much i've improved.
I don't think I have ever intentionally thrown anything out besides ideas/drafts that didn't pan out to anything I enjoyed.
I hang onto files of for sale packs and comics, which include collections of many of the pics involved, but sketches and unfinished things must be done or get gone