Organizing Studio Time

Surviving as an artist has many connotations, most involving some sort of struggle. The key to survival is working every day at your goals, no matter how daunting it is to move on. Just like any other profession, being an artist is a full time job. Taking your studio time seriously will help to get the ball rolling for you. So channel your effort into your creativity, and get to work on achieving your dreams.

Failure comes first:

Think of the studio as your laboratory. You’ll take all of these different elements and work them separately, then mold them together to create something wonderful. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Allowing yourself to fail is huge. You’ll need failure to improve and learn what works and what doesn’t. You will learn where your strengths lie, and where you will need to spend more time learning.

Establish Goals:

Artists get started by creating things at random, according to their latest inspiration. This sort of creation is what gets us hooked on art. It’s wonderful! Once we decide to take it on a career path, things change a bit. Suddenly we have deadlines and obligations to people outside of ourselves. Don’t become discouraged by this sudden structure. Use it to create goals. Imagine what you would like to have accomplished in ten years. Take these long term goals and hash them into smaller, shorter term goals. At the beginning of your session, think about what you want to have done by the end. Be reasonable with your requests of yourself, and don’t set yourself up for failure.

Allow for evolution:

When we first get started with our end goal in mind, it’s easy to shut out other opportunities because of intense focus on what you originally wanted. Look at every opportunity for growth and consider if it will lead you in a positive direction, even if it doesn’t follow the original plan. In addition to this, you’ll sometimes be in the studio and have a completely different idea that you didn’t plan on working on that day. Experiment and evolve.

Monitor Yourself:

Look at your art from the viewpoint of the public. It makes sense to you, but will the general population understand it? It’s easy to feel like the opinions of outsiders don’t matter, but if you are planning on sharing your work, make sure there is an audience out there who will appreciate it.