In this article you’ll learn 5 positive ways to increase the quality and volume of your art work regardless of your experience or skill level as an artist. You will learn how to get your head in the game and keep moving forward.
1. Get Pumped
Making a piece of art is like doing a workout. You’ve got to warm up first. Half the battle is just getting your pen on the paper.
A typical routine might have you starting a familiar playlist on Spotify, putting on a pot of coffee, making some eggs, doing the dishes, feeding your cat, and making your bed – all before setting foot in your creative space. Overtime your mind will associate these tasks with creative juices to follow.
Athletes warm up and stretch their muscles before performing. Think of your brain as a muscle. Your brain actually consumes 60% of the energy your body needs to survive! Even Michael Phelps’ lats don’t us as much energy as his brain. So even more-so than muscles, you should warm up your brain for creative tasks.
When you end your routine you should have a de-stressing ritual to cool you off. This might be the perfect time to blow off some steam at the gym or to read a story to your kids. These sorts of cool down activities signal to your brain that it is allowed to rest and recover for the next day ahead.
2. Disconnect From Tech
The evidence is overwhelming that technology, while helpful, is deadly to your ability to stay on task. It may not seem like a big deal to intermittently check buzzes and dings that come from your phone and the desktop of your computer, but it adds up. Not to mention the rabbit holes that platforms like YouTube get you trapped in. These platforms are designed by the worlds’ top behavioral scientists to keep us enticed for as long as possible.
So put your phone in your bag or in the next room. If you’re working on a computer, just turn the WiFi off so you can mitigate that risk.
*Bonus Tip: Classical music or lofi hip hop might be the most distraction free music you can have playing while you make art. Its easy to get distracted by lyrics or grooves when your favorite jam comes on the radio.
3. Disconnect from your Head
Disconnecting from tech is pretty self explanatory. But why would you want to distance yourself from… yourself?
Think about all the things you have to do before next Wednesday; think about all the things you have to do before your roommate gets home. Watch out for these emotional distractions. Don’t let yourself think about that dinner date or about how mad you are that your roommate ate those leftovers. How annoying is it to have these thoughts spinning around your head? These distractions are just as bad as the buzzing of your smart phone.
A common thing many people passively worry about are household chores. Even though this isn’t purely an emotional stress, its a physical factor that correlates to stress later on. Taking the time to clear the clutter is another small way to cut down emotional distractions. So even if you work a full-time job while arting in the evenings, don’t go straight into it.
Working on art takes a lot of time and energy that should be rewarded with a worry-free “plop” into bed. There’s nothing more satisfying than laying down at the end of a hard day and knowing that (almost) everything is in order.
4. Have a Plan Before You Start
Planning as you go will ultimately slow you down. Especially if you have limited time to begin with. The life coach and best selling author Steve Chandler said one hour of planning saves three hours of execution.
This step actually starts the night before. Sometime before you go to bed, write down a few goals for your next creative session and how you’ll do it. Decide what references you need to collect, what supplies should be set out, and how much technology will be involved with every project before you even begin. This is all about visualizing yourself completing what you set out to accomplish.
How often do you set out to accomplish something and fall short of the final goal? Setting up small plans and completing what you set out to do will build your capacity for confidence. More confidence will turn into you reaching higher than you previously thought you were capable of.
5. Plan on Things Not Going According to Plan
You never know what discoveries will reveal themselves while you’re working. Artists aren’t robots pumping out piece after piece, they innovate and push themselves to the next big thing. So if you find yourself in the midst of a great discovery, just go with it!
But sometimes the hiccup you encounter isn’t actually a great discovery. It hinders your process and this can be very emotionally draining. Here’s a short exercise that can help keep you on track when the unexpected happens…
Keep a pad of paper nearby where you imagine all the things that could go wrong while you’re working. Maybe you struggle with drawing hands. In your note book write down “get bogged down in details of the hand” as your potential road block. Then take a moment, scratch your chin, say “ah-ha”, and write your solution – print reference hands and draw desired pose 8 times on scratch paper beforehand (no pun intended).
These micro plans are a great way to keep those negative-stress hormones at bay whenever you run into trouble. As you get used to tackling problems in this manner, you’ll see yourself as an artist who overcomes things rather than relying on whatever skills are already under your belt.
Think about it like this… Do you see yourself as a visual dictionary with a pencil attached to it? Or do you see yourself as a visual explorer who is ready for whatever is around the corner? If you master adaptability, you’re setting yourself up to master anything.
In Conclusion
The 5 suggestions to improve to productivity as an artist are as follows:
Get Pumped, Disconnect from Tech, Disconnect from your head, Plan Ahead, and to Plan on Things not Going According to Plan.
No pain. No gain. Like many before you, you’ve had romantic thoughts of what it would be like to be a successful artist in the modern world. But you shouldn’t be discouraged when you put your pen to the paper and things aren’t going as smoothly as you hoped. Like any technical skill, there is a steep learning curve with art and sometimes its painful.
But the pain means it is working!
If this post helped you get through the day or planted a seed in your headspace, consider sharing or subscribing. Weekly artist tutorials and tips coming every week!
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