How Do You Find The Time To Do The Art?

Jake Parker

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Am I stealing images? How should I approach an agent? And what if I’m too tired to make art? Jake Parker, Lee White, and Will Terry answer these questions in this week’s episode.

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Jake Parker

Here's a link to Will's Kickstarter!

Alzamon

Hi there. The case of the grocery store manager asking for advice hits a little too close to home. One thing I’m grateful to be aware of is that there is a lot of us in the same predicament: having to sell the best hours of our days to The Man so we can have a roof over our heads and food on the table, so we can push our art careers in whatever (scarce) time we have left.

Over the last couple of years I’ve been monitoring my own work and time habits, and I’ve come to the conclusion that for me is not just a matter of time, but also an energy issue. Sometimes I come back from office work and still have fuel and stamina to keep going (specially if I worked out in the morning) but other days I’ve learned that if I come back exhausted to no end, it is far better to call it a day early and get back up early in the dawn to retake my art projects. For me, this has proved highly beneficial knowing I can count with at least 1-2 hours of uninterrupted time to work on my illustration and comics work, and thus carry on with the rest of my day knowing that I have accomplished some advance.

I’m not a natural early riser. Have become one out of habit. Some days it takes much more than mere will to wake up when everything is still dark. But in the end it boils down to how bad you want this to happen. Me, I’d answer “plenty”. We all hate to be pressured by deadlines, however making yourself accountable to others and having dated milestones to look for work wonders to put yourself into traction. Balanced diet, daily exercise and vitamin intake are also highly important to be at your best.

CaseyKinseyArt

@Alzamon I very much appreciate this response. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one in this camp (hi, I’m the grocery store manager) and every little bit helps! I’m going to try waking up early tomorrow, as I’m also a not a natural at that. Hopefully I can make this a habit

Jeremy Ross

Great piece @chrisaakins! Perfect concept, chasing after time! That clock is swole!

I found this podcast very relevant to me, as a 42yr old husband, father and full time employee of an engineering and construction company.

My first priority is my existing career, it pays the bills and keeps food on the table.

After work, my priority is family and fitness. Once family commitments are handled, I do some form of strength training like calisthenics or weights, and cardio.

Then I get to do art, take classes, etc. As much as I would love to have more time for art, the truth is that I would have to sacrifice spending time with my family or skip exercise, which are not great options.

Therefore, I squeeze Art in every chance I get (lunch break at work), after dinner, after everyone goes to sleep (not my favorite), and weekends! I find weekends the best time for me to make progress.

Honestly, I feel like I’m never going to catch-up; but then I ask myself; who am I trying to catch-up to? As long as I keep improving, that’s all I can ask for. During the last critique arena, @Norman-Morana said, “It’s great to see Jeremy’s improvement!”, to which I would like to say a huge THANK YOU!

Time may be limited, but we all have to find it whenever it works for us, and as it suits our energy levels.

Pinky

Great podcast once again! @Lee-White, you're right about just getting started. I find that just keeping a pencil and paper/sketchbook at hand is very helpful and what may start as the intention of a quick sketch will often expand into a piece ready for rendering. @Will-Terry, your point about us not using our full capacity was spot on. In art or anything else, we have the ability to ignore mental and physical fatigue to achieve a goal. For example, my last half marathon (which, @Jake-Parker, I DID do for the medal lol), I was completely under-trained and really had no realistic expectation of finishing under the time limit. Ignoring the pain and fatigue (and repeating my mantra of "Don't die at Disney") got me to the finish line. One of my favorite quotes is "If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse." Ryan Blair

TaniaGomesArt

Great podcast.

Just wanted to add that one thing that helped me years ago to when I struggled to have a schedule (I don't remember where I heard it, but it was somewhere), was to have things ready to work. Basically, the night before, I would put everything ready so that in the morning I would just need to sit and start drawing. And when I say everything, I mean materials, references, or whatever I would need, everything already in place at the drawing table. If I was working on the computer, I would leave photoshop open with what I was doing (this specific one kept me from opening the internet before I opened photoshop lol), and if I was going to follow a tutorial or course, I would have it ready to hit play too. So when I woke up in the morning, I just had to pick the pencil or graphic pen and start drawing.

And it really helped me.

carlianne

@TaniaGomesArt I just realized that recently myself. It takes a bit to remove my day work computer and set up my personal one, so now on Fridays I set up my personal computer at the end of my day so that'll be willing to work on the weekend. It's so funny how such a little action can prevent you from working some times

Jeremy Ross

Good feedback @carlianne, James Clear wrote in Atomic Habits to make it easy to avoid decision fatigue.