I’ve learned pretty quickly that something looking good on a screen doesn’t mean it’s going to look good once you actually make it.
I’ve had designs where I really liked what I was seeing on the computer, then I put it on slate or another material and immediately started seeing things I wanted to change. A line that looked fine suddenly feels too thin. A small detail disappears. Something I thought was important ends up making the whole piece too busy.
That’s one of the reasons I don’t think you can design completely separate from the material. Slate, wood and acrylic don’t react the same way, so I can’t expect the exact same artwork to work exactly the same way on all of them.
Now I spend more time thinking about what really needs to be there. What do I want somebody to notice first? What can I take out without losing the idea?
Sometimes adding something helps. A lot of times taking something away helps more.
It’s still something I’m learning with every piece I make.