Direct Yourself

One of the most difficult things when animating your own film is being your own director. There is always a tendency to let the scene go as it is. It's amazing how easy it is to overlook the flaws when you don't feel like redoing any part of a scene. Of course I can also be pretty brutal to myself and over criticize the work. There has to be a happy medium, otherwise the project will drag on and I'll face the possibility of never getting it done.
I'm fortunate enough that I have been a director with a budget and a schedule. This has given me a nice balance between getting it done and making a quality film. So I switch hats and look at my scenes with that directors eye. What instructions would I give that animator? Simplify the action; Punch up the dialog to match the track; Stronger poses where needed; Slow down or speed up the action; Give a breather in the action; Eye direction; etc. These are all directions I might give to an animator so I look at my own animation in the same way. When I do it gets better and I feel like I'm getting the quality I want.