Whether you work in the arts or not, you want to dedicate some energy to personal projects. But where to find the time? Once we hit adulthood, leisure becomes a luxury. We all have responsibilities to attend to: work, chores, family obligations. Add healthcare and entertainment into the mix, and there’s little time left for creative play.
Do not panic! Here is some advice to help you streamline your creative output in 2024 — and maybe finish that dream artwork you’ve been putting off.
Make use of the “domino effect.”
Think of your plans for the upcoming year. Then think of all the personal projects on your to-do list. Which of them is the domino that can knock over multiple others? Or, in other words, what will give you the biggest push towards achieving a major goal?
For example, you may want to grow your social media presence. Drawing art for a small, little-known film in unlikely to bring you many new followers. However, if you want to land a poster gig for an indie drama from a local filmmaker, that same illustration works in your favour. In short, always prioritize the project that can lead to the biggest opportunity.
Collect small drawings into one big project.
Let’s say you have forty minutes of uninterrupted free time each day. You can watch an episode of a TV drama… or you can make a tiny themed drawing that will then become part of a larger work of art. For example, if you doodle one Star Wars character every day, in four weeks you can make a 4×7 character poster that features all of your favourites.
Daily challenges, such as Inktober and 36 Days of Type, are built around this principle. Taken alone, an illustrated drop cap isn’t going to impress anyone. But a full alphabet collected over a month? That’s a great addition to your portfolio! Think of this as a metaphorical quilt, where squares of fabric become more than the sum of their parts when sewn together.
Do a batch day.
Pick a day that will allow you to do several hours’ worth of uninterrupted work — e.g. Saturday evening. In pockets of free time throughout the week, do all the “boring” tasks that go into creative work. This can include picking prompts off your to-do list and cleaning up the workspace.
When the batch day finally arrives, all the prep will have been done. You will have a big chunk of time to get into the flow of things and work with minimal distractions. This will make your week more productive, even thought the actual creative part of it took place on one day.
Less can be more.
As Leidy Klotz discusses in the book Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, humans believe that more is better. “When humans solve problems, we overlook an incredibly powerful option: We don’t subtract. We pile on ‘to-dos’ but don’t consider ‘stop-doings.’ We create incentives for high performance, but don’t get rid of obstacles to our goals,” he says.
Take a good look at all the work you have your plate. Can anything be removed, streamlined or delegated? Maybe one of the steps in your artistic process takes too much time. Maybe a social media app has stopped bringing you joy and/or exposure. Maybe you can hire someone to update your portfolio website instead of doing it yourself.
TLDR: We often can go further by doing less.
Remember to manage your energy, not just your time.
Yes, the memes about night owls versus early birds can be overblown. However, circadian rhythms do, in fact, vary between individuals. Track your energy levels during the day, and you will notice highs and dips in productivity. The trick here is to figure out the time of the day that works best for you and dedicate it to the most energy-intensive processes. In short, work smarter, not harder!
Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing you meet your artistic goals in 2024 :)
