2014 to 2015: My Year Making Focused, Time-Efficient Art Pt. 1
This is my first time writing a blog post about my year in art, but because I chose in November from last year to do some things a little different and I have seen some improvement because of that, I thought I`d share my little experiment. I`m going to split this text into various posts because I want people to have an easy time reading about it later. So let`s begin.
Asking for help with the right focus in mind
Early on, I had been present in online art forums and always asked for the dreaded “comments and critiques, plz!”. This is not how you want to improve. First, because different people have different takes on art and style and it might just not be what you are looking for. You should seek advice from people you look up to art-wise, and whose style fits what you want to achieve best. It also helps if that person works with a client you want to eventually work with. Second, getting a lot of critiques from hundreds of people will not help you focus. The ideal situation is you having a network of artists you trust and care about and are regularly talking about art and giving critiques to each other. Beautiful friendships are born this way. That is another reason why it is important to get to know people and not be ashamed to ask for help. The moment I looked up artists that had landed the clients I wanted to work for, I got much more directed feedback, hence my craft evolved faster tailored to that specific client.
Filter the feedback you have receiver carefully
Once you have collected important feedback from artist friends, you should write all of them down and figure out where to begin. Write them in a specific fashion, with keywords, so your choosing will be simpler. I personally suggest beginning with whatever you like the most — for me it’s figure painting — so you can build up inertia. Just so I am clear, inertia works both ways: the more you do stuff the easier it is to do more stuff; on the other hand, if you don’t do a lot of stuff, beginning to do so can be quite a challenge (here is a text that goes deeper into the subject). This way tackling the other tasks will become part of your routine.
Being organised also plays a big role on avoiding procrastination. I personally use everything at my disposal to help me better myself. For example, having a document open on Google Docs specifying the topics, the order they will be studied and the resources to help you learn whatever you need to learn: it can be websites, books, eBooks, blog posts… By doing this, you will prevent procrastination and having to figure everything out on study hours. During those, you should only worry about understanding the subject and reapplying it later in your paintings.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this series!
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