An old German proverb, “The devil is in the details,” was contradicted by the famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who said, “God is in the details.” I don’t know which saying is true, but I do know that freelancers are often caught in the middle of these two points of view.

Many freelancers like me are afflicted by an obsession with the details of their work. We fuss over the fine points until we lose track of the objective reasoning that tells us when to stop. I am a freelance illustrator, and for whatever reason – whether it’s my personality or a side-effect of my trade – I’m particularly vulnerable. I’ve seen writers, photographers, designers, accountants and other freelance professionals suffer, too. It can be devastating because if it’s not understood and controlled, the hours wasted sap our energy and erode our fees.

Details are the shelled pistachio nuts of our craft; once we’ve started in on them, there’s just no stopping. The problem is that, while there’s usually a finite supply of pistachios in a bag, when it comes to putting the finishing touches on our work, there may seem to be no finish at all.

Added details come in three varieties: those that are necessary to address the essential concept of the work, those that add a touch of elegance to it, and those that are there just to make you look good. Developing a keen awareness of which variety we’re dealing with is an on-going struggle for many freelancers like me. The key is honest self-examination of our motivations. Who or what purpose is being served? Who’s really in control of the process? Here are some important introspective examinations that will help you turn a weakness into strength – without blowing your fee.

Above All Else, Support the Concept

“Concept” is a broad term used to describe the essence of the work we perform – the touchstone principle that guides each decision we make. Regardless of your field, defining a concept takes creativity, and every freelancer has it. As freelancers, we are hired to solve a problem, answer a question, or create a design for clients who either don’t have the resources to perform this work themselves or simply don’t know how. For the most part, the client defines the task; the freelancer pinpoints the concept that drives the solution and then executes it. It’s in the execution where questions arise regarding details.

As your attention leaves the general layout or outline of your work and turns toward the finer points, ask yourself, “Do these details continue to support the concept?” As example in illustration, is it necessary to draw every spoke on a bicycle wheel in order to convey the essence of “bicycle-ness?” Probably not. But if your purpose is to show a bike mechanic skillfully assembling a wheel for Lance Armstrong by hand, the answer could be an emphatic, “Yes!” In this case, such details are necessary because they focus your viewers’ attention where you want it: the concept.

Add Charm, Delight, and Amusement

If the detail you’re working on doesn’t immediately support the concept, it may fall into the next category. Continue the self-inquiry and ask yourself, “Do these details add charm, delight, or amusement?” That’s a tougher question because as freelance specialists, we are essentially performers. And as performers, we feel charm, delight, and amusement in the very practice of our craft. Unfortunately, our client may not feel the same enjoyment. The honest answer to this question requires us to disconnect our love of the work from the work itself.

Maybe you’re writing ad copy for a new hand held device that boasts a dozen new features, and you just realized you’re spending hours writing and rewriting your description of the first feature – and you still have eleven to go! Each rewrite may be quite different from the previous one, but if they’re not progressively improving, it may be time to move on. If this one feature is by far more marketable than the other eleven, and your description of it needs to positively sparkle, then by all means keep refining. Be careful, though; continue only if your fee is large enough to cover the extra time. Absent a sufficient fee, this level of refinement may best be saved for self-promotion work.

To Paraphrase Pink Floyd: Know When NOT to Shine On, You Crazy Diamond

Should you feel you still need to continue detailing beyond the level of charm, delight, and amusement, ask yourself, “Am I just trying to show off?” If the honest answer to that question is, “Yes,” then try to stop. Put down the pencil, walk away from the keyboard, whatever. Just because you have certain skills doesn’t mean you are obliged to use them. From a business standpoint, these details aren’t worth your time. Worse, from your client’s standpoint the work risks feeling fussy. And fussiness distracts your audience from the core concept; it may even annoy them. Viewing or reading tediously detailed work is like trying to hear the melody of a song while listening to a guitar riff being played indiscriminately over the voice of the lead singer. You just bristle and walk away. Pink Floyd’s music has lasting appeal to a broad audience partly because David Gilmour knew when to play loudly, when to play softly, and when not to play at all.

Illustration by K. Curtis Shontz

Not Everything Broken Needs To Be Fixed.

An editor friend of mine handed me a recent issue of his magazine and muttered sheepishly, “I can’t stand the tape on her breast.” I had no clue what he was talking about until he pointed to a tiny – no a minuscule – portion of discoloration on the skin of the cover model’s neckline. (I still can’t see it without my reading glasses, and even then I really need a jeweler’s loupe.) He said the cover photographer is exasperated over that detail. Unfortunately, the photographer pointed it out to the editor, now the editor is exasperated, too. Come to think of it, every time I look at the cover, I begin feeling exasperated looking for that tiny piece of tape.

I don’t know the photographer in this example, but I’ll bet if he had proofed the shot to the editor without pointing out the “flaw,” no one would have been the wiser. Heck, if he had shown it to another photographer or even a regular Joe and asked for comments, he might have realized that fretting over that detail was just not worth it. In this way, outside critique is especially useful. We freelancers tend to be a solitary lot, and though that’s an appealing work environment to most of us, it can isolate us from the opinions of our peers and our potential viewers if taken too far. Breaking out of this bubble helps shed light on our blind spots. My wife pokes her head into my studio from time to time now and jokingly chides, “You’re not worrying about breast tape, are you?” More often than not, I am, and her playful reminder helps me to stop.

In The End, What Is Necessary And What Is Sufficient?

The quality of our illustrations, writings, photography or any other freelance work should never be compromised by ignoring details that could turn ho-hum work into a gleaming jewel, simply because by ignoring them we could get the work done faster. But our business’ bottom line shouldn’t suffer because we’ve wasted time hyper-focusing on minutiae. With apologies to those who make up German proverbs and to famous architects, I think both God and the devil reside within the details, and it’s the freelancer’s job to referee the match.