Finding time to draw more

[Jono]

Here's a question for anyone on the forum who has ever managed to maintain a regular comic update schedule while simultaneously holding down a real job.  How do you manage your time?

I work for a startup software company which means that it's rarely only 40 hours a week.  Hey, I'm not complaining, I love my job.  But then there's about an hour a day of transportation, too.  I'm trying to get in better shape so I do martial arts lessons, and I try to make sure I go at least three days a week but I would prefer to do four or five.  Then there's dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, bla bla bla.  I would still be able to draw a page a week no problem if I could consistently get one solid day on the weekend just for drawing, but it seems like every single weekend there's something I absolutely have to go to, whether it's a friend's graduation or a family member who needs help moving or a convention or something.  I also have a 7-year-old sister who lives with my parents in the suburbs, and she gets really sad if I don't come to visit every couple of weeks.  How can I say no?  And then, you know, it would be nice to occasionally spend time with adult friends too, like doing gaming or even, say, Art Night.

And I keep saying "gotta find more time to draw" but there's always something going on so before I know it a month has gone by and I haven't gotten anything done.

I know I need to prioritize, but I'm not good at saying things like, "Sorry, I can't come to your wedding, I have to stay home and draw comics."  For example.

What are your strategies?  What do you sacrifice to make drawing time?  Do you schedule a little time for it every day, or find bigger blocks once a week, or do you just fit it in here and there?  Have you found any way to draw more efficiently so you can get more done in the same time?

And I know that spending time posting stuff like this on forums doesn't help, so don't bother making that joke |;-)

[starstriker1]

Same problem for me on a lesser scale. I'm getting better at just buckling down and DRAWING something every day, but it's something you need to consciously make time for.

One thing that worked for me, while my classes were still going, is that I'd carry my sketchbook around in my backpack. Almost every day I'd have a break, and I'd sit down and doodle stuff during it for lack of anything else to do. If you have a sketchbook with you, any empty space of time can be used to get your practise in.

There's always some downtime during a day, when you have to wait for x many minutes. That'd be a good place to start looking!

[KurtMitchell]

Let's be totally frank here... art has to become an all consuming passion. If you are a part-time artist, then your art will look like part-time art. It won't fit in a schedule. If you have to slot it in, then do it... wake up a half hour earlier to draw. An old teacher of mine put it succinctly...

He said, "Shut up and draw."

I don't mean to make light of your post. Please don't take offense.

[starstriker1]

My problem is that I have too MANY all-consuming passions.

Art, Piano, Martial Arts, Programming, Games...

[SABERinBLUE]

Let's be totally frank here... art has to become an all consuming passion. If you are a part-time artist, then your art will look like part-time art. It won't fit in a schedule.

I think you're talking about an ideal that's really a bit too purist to be realistic.  Art can very much be a part-time thing and still be very worthwhile and very high quality.  It's not how much time you spend, it's how you spend it.  You don't have to be just an artist and nothing else to be a full-fledged artist.  What about Da Vinci? 

[Dirk]

That is true to an extent, but I've found that there is a direct correlation between the amount of time you spend and the quality of the artwork over the long term.  That doesn't mean you can't make it work if you have no intention of making a living on your art.  It just means you'll be finding the time in your off-hours to make it happen instead.

For the record, when I first started working on PS, I was working a full-time gig which took up about 8hrs a day, plus ~2hrs of commuting time.  The thing was, at the time I wasn't doing much in the way of socializing outside of work, so I basically came home and devoted my evenings to working on the comic first writing and character design, and then into page production in the final six months.  However, this lasted only about a year before I moved in with a roommate, started freelancing, and socializing.  And then it became a little more difficult to juggle so easily.

It is hard having to choose between seeing friends and working on art, though. Nowadays it's the socializing that I have to juggle the most, since doing art is now my full-time work.  Unfortunately things haven't changed that much for PS, so I'm often left with a choice of either hanging out with other people in the evenings, or working on PS.  Now and again I'll get lucky and have a few hours or a full day to work on the comic (sometimes even weeks, which is really nice, but still rare), so most of the time I'm stuck with having to make a choice.

Having multiple interests does make things more challenging as well.  I actually play music, too.  Regrettably, it's been relegated to second-class status, so I only get to practice now and again.  It still happens, though.  You just have to prioritize.

[KurtMitchell]

I was speaking a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I was pretty much setting up the pursuant line...

"Shut up and draw."

I have to tell myself that every day. Do I draw enough? NO!!! I'm not trying to put myself up on a pedestal here.

Right now I am in the process of rebuilding a career and I'm trying to do it through my comics and my free-lance. There is only one way out for me and that is to produce... to make product, and to strive for what I call my "critical mass", something that I admire/envy about Dirk and PS. I think that showing up at San Diego last year with two books was a start; this year I'll have four. I really wanted to have six, but I don't draw enough, either.