Hi guys. I made this chocolate cake - i know inside it is fantastic. On the outside, it was supposed to be a simple design, with confetti and writing. But now I think it looks terrible. Should I re-do, or is it okay? I am my own worst critic (it is actually a condition, I can talk myself into believing anything I make is really bad) So it looks awful to me now, and I just don't know anymore - will the client hate this?

It's fine, you're making yourself crazy!

Just what IS wrong with it?   As costumeczar said, you are making yourself crazy.  It is very nice!  And your writting is super nice:)

Thank you. It helps. I can't even say what it is that i find wrong. Like, it looks "not good enough". Probably just in my head. I'll look at it in a couple of hours, sometimes it helps to change focus, then come back and re-evaluate. 

Have you guys seen this "6 steps of artistic person's creative process" thing? 

1. This is awesome! 

2. This is tricky...

3) This is $**t.

4) _I_ am $**t.

5) This might be ok...

6) This is awesome!

I guess, i'm somewhere between 3 and 4 right now.  :-)

you said this, "I can talk myself into believing anything I make is really bad)"

you said this, "I can talk myself into believing anything I make is really bad)"

"I can talk myself into believing anything"

things to talk yourself into:

• believe that you have good skills
• believe that you are a good decorator
• believe you have good judgement
• believe that you can depend on yourself
• believe that you can talk yourself out of believing that anything you make is really bad
• believe that you can talk yourself into believing that everything you make is really really really good

use your head 

It's a sweet cake.

It's a cute cake!

But I know what you mean. I'm sort of the same. Always have to bite my tongue not to point out all the "faults" I see to a client, lol. 

First, please throw out that artist list.  Everyone works differently.  We are all our worst critics but if you look at everything you do and only find the worst in it,  you will not see the good things like:  You know it is delicious (most important), your sides are straight, you didn't over do the confetti and your writing is very pretty and nothing is misspelled. 
Go forth and conquer! 

Well, I don't think it is ugly anymore. They loved it. I really must stop chewing myself out like that :-) 

Thanks for support!

Being self-critical is a fine line to walk.  Yes, you always need to be critical of your work....you need to honestly critique your work in order to develop and improve your skills.  If, however, it becomes self-defeating rather than constructive, it can become very detrimental.  

One thing I do is photograph every cake, especially the areas I feel are of concern.  A day or two later I sit down and make notes on it as to how I'd do it different next time...different tips, change the arrangement of the flowers, etc.  look at areas that need imorovement and make a plan...perhaps practice that skill when there's free time.  

This will also give you a visual record to see how your skills are growing from one cake to the next....and that can be very encouraging too.

great post, jeff

Great ideas!

Jeff you're so right:)   When I was teaching I really encouraged everyone to take a pic of their cakes(s) - especially the 1st few - so they could see the improvements and study where/how they could improve them. 

So many of them scoffed - "I'm not taking a pic of *that*!"  But often I would and at the end of the 6 wks show/offer them to the student and they would be so glad to see/have them often so they could laugh at their 1st efforts and see how they did improve.