Nobody starts in a vacuum, gathering intel is the ground for any successful plan. But unfortunately I haven't saved any schedule to contribute to your research, mostly because I didin't think schedules are useful for me without a boss figure to enforce it. I did read somewhere that the character artist, Bobby Chiu, would do 1 hour of drawing as soon as he wakes up everyday.
Even if just this one, start following it, and you'll start to get the feel of what else you need, and what you can cut out, and edit it until it becomes your own unique schedule.
Very good idea for a thread, I also like seeing how other people study :)
Here's a schedule I like, from Viktor Fetsch, basically an adaption of Dave's.
I think I have some more, but not on my laptop and can't find it online right now... I'll post as soon as I'm back on my main computer (probably in a week or so)!
Very cool that you're constantly pushing yourself Ursula :) "preparing for war" lol
However you decide to plan your schedule, try to fit in some structure studies and gestures (very important) and try to make some time every couple of days to browse/find artworks or stuff in general that could inspire you. When you do get bored of that schedule, try to mix it up or direct your focus on something you haven't been doing, example:a comic panel/fashion/landscapes/concepts/vehicles/etc and always try to find a way to apply the stuff you're learning. My 2 cents
Wojtek Fus had a schedule template up on his blog, but the link isn't working anymore.
I ain't no pro, but I used this schedule when I took 3 months off work to focus purely on art.
A couple of comments from my experience first.
Having the schedule was good, and I started off really well. Something happened about 3 weeks in to break the flow (hospitalisation...long story) and from that point on I always felt like I was behind. I found having strict time limits was really hard for me to stick to. I think some people are natural at working in this way, but I tend to like being a little more organic with my time because it allows me to explore something cool if it happens, without having the schedule standing behind you looking disparagingly at you while glancing at it's watch. Damn thing.
To catch up my time off, I ended up re-purposing the comic time to focus on studies instead. BAD move.
The one thing I realised after 3 months of this, was that I wasn't doing nearly enough fun stuff. It was all skewed towards folio and study and what I thought I should be doing but nothing for just me, and it really showed. So I would recommend a good balance.
Also the other thing that is crazy about Rapoza's schedule...is that it is crazy. It is a really good way of becoming an incredibly unhealthy individual. You need balance. You need sleep, You need socialisation, you need exercise. It's not just about hours.
I tried to build that more in with my schedule with that one day off...but you know what, it still wasn't enough! I'm a lot more holistic in my approach now, I try and take care of myself and take breaks and I feel my work has leaped ahead because of it. Oh and if you need to take a break for two weeks, just do it. As long as it's not procrastination and is guilt free recharge time!
Yep, good advice all around. I am looking into this exactly because I was trying to juggle full time job with practice and freelance, that ended with me doing a 3 almost 4 month 14h/day only painting routine that was not good at all. Ever since I have moved here I am having trouble establishing a social life, so there is that too, which only helps diving into full work mode.
I am looking at this mostly to see subjects covered, and the balance between observation/imagination. I am planning on doing less than I am doing today, but more focused, and I will even have free time! Picture that.
Yeah I hear that. I did about a year of 80-90 hour working weeks (if you included my day job which was not art-related) and I became....a walking zombie...with no friends....who talked to his cat....and the creature living behind my walls.
Oh the other thing I realised is that once your fundamentals hit a certain level of comfort, that is the time you can safely err more on the imagination side than studies. I had actually thought I was more in need of studies and fundamental work, and I realised that actually I had already paid my dues to some extent and I actually wasn't that bad. This lead me to realise I could scale those back and do more fun stuff! Personal projects are great to pour this extra time into.
I think judging by your SB you're well into being able to focus more on imagination stuff than study!
Good luck finding your balance, and best of luck in the new place wherever that is. Get out there in the real world too, that's where those friends come from! :)
It really is a balancing act when it gets right down to it. Dave put in a lot of work from the ground up. Chris Oatley and Noah Bradley did it different, doing work along side personal paintings on a daily basis. Good luck, though.
I also made a thread about this a few months ago. = A=
You know, since I started a thread on this before and I've taken a few months balance and examine other schedules (in Excel) I can offer a bit more input and elaboration, too.
1) It's a balancing act that REALLY depends on you, and you know how to challenge yourself more than others do or will. To this end: other schedules may have many repeating patterns, but they're all there to show that each individual artist challenged themselves in that specifc way (Chris Oatley and Noah Bradley each did paintings for about 30 minutes a day, Dave and Fetsch each had ~hour and 30 minutes a day dedicated to anatomy and color each).
2) More than anything you will do or add to a schedule, consistency is very important, Everything you do or will do gets better the more you do it following days, so keeping what you can and can't do repeatedly is something you have keep in mind. It's like lifting weights and seeing the progress of such.
3) Variation is also important, keeping the above point in mind. Change your subject matter every so often so you're not drawing or painting the same forms every day.
4) And with the other things, doing "work work" is very important, putting all that you learned into practice and making all those studies count. You do not have to produce a piece of work (commission or personal) a day, but you have to contribute to something to make it all 'stick'. Going lengthy periods of time where you study and don't apply it all is just you spinning your wheels and filling time. To this end, make it so that whatever work work you do do goes to a something.
5) Manage your time, but don't be ruled by it. There will always be times when you can't do anything (or even the opposite: you have too little to do) and you must plan for that accordingly. Understand that some things you do you can miss and/or make up for later if you give yourself the leniency to do so. As Monkeybread indicated: missing a day or more will make you feel like you're cripplingly behind, which can mount into a full blown sense of burnout. There are many ways to harden up and discipline yourself, but mental sabotage is not one of them.
6) Draw what you want to draw when it's personal work (and hell, when it's work work). This is your time, your training schedule YOUR input into what makes your art better. Use it wisely or use it sparingly, but above all use it for what makes you you.
7) Don't try to everything at once. Some of these schedules may have been made after lengthy periods of these fantastic artists twisting their own arms to make things work, and most of these schedules border on the edge of insanity. That being said, you may try to go further if you're allowed. And that's cool too.
I hope that helps, after spending most of this last year trying and working into making a schedule of my own (and having some success).
Discipline is important to keep up with hefty schedule, now discipline is like a muscle so
one way to start off your day and train that discipline muscle is to take a cold shower for 1-2 minutes. You just force yourself outta bed and get in there. Turn the water on and curse if you must, but dont get out, this is an exercise targeted towards better discipline and better life.
Also after youve spent your time in the coldness you have gotten used to it and feel empowered.
Basically take cold showers and feel like the most powerful person on earth.
@Tyrus: Whoa, awesome post man, thanks for it. I think that I was basically what I was looking for, in the end. I still need to do a few solid details, thinking about planning topics per week too, but now it is basically polishing it up :)
Also attached a schedule which I don't remember who it belongs to.. quite outdated it seems since there's no more livestream :/
I also found it a good idea to have a document (or notepad or whatever you prefer) ready at all times where you can note things for later study. Be it that you are already doing some studies and realize you want to go back to some part later in more detail, or you observe something in real life you want to come back to later, or you see someone else do a kind of study that looks useful to you... just write it down immediately.. so you will always have a list to look if you don't know what might be best to study next. (Examples from my list: clothed figures, science equipment, practice different body types, play with simplifying materials like rock etc)
I know the feeling Peppermint.
You will be under a lot of pressure by taking time off especially if it is so limited, but as long as you can do it and still enjoy it, it's not a bad thing to do.
I think the better idea as you do a 9-5 is to face the reality and try and build in a routine that is sustainable for you that makes the best use of the time you have. It's not only about how many hours you do , but how good the quality of those hours are.
Also start thinking outside the box for solutions too...can you swing one day less at work and take the income hit? Can getting a different job help you in some way etc etc. Good luck.
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