Making an Art Schedule? (Revised schedule post 16)

[Mock]

Alright, so I'm fortunate enough at the moment to be in a position where I don't have to work and can devote most of my time to art. I'm a lucky fucker, I know.

However, having not taken any form of art class since the second grade, I wanted to try and structure my time as if I were in an actual school, so I'm using time blocks like I had in college for my long Tuesday/Thursday courses.

I know concept artists need to be able to draw everything, so I wanted to mix in foundational concepts like color theory and cast drawing with things like creature designs and vehicle concepting. I have books on almost all of these topics that I can study from in combination with just drawing my ass off. Weekends would be for working on anything else that comes to mind, or for snowboarding. Or drinking. Whatever happens to sound good.

So I suppose my question is, am I forgetting anything? Are there any topics I'm not covering, or anything I'm devoting too much/too little time to? Any other ideas? I won't have a problem sticking to the schedule, I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

[Muz]

Just want to wish you good luck .

I wouldn't have a chance of sticking to something like that even though im in a similar situation to you for the next few weeks. I find that i can do the hours but i cant stick to a schedule, as my mind is constantly on different tangents.

[Bill]

Hats off to you for being so focused as to put this sort of thing together. Personally I don't know if I'd want to change gears every hour and a half. I realize that that's comparable to a class schedule but classes are for Getting the information, Applying the information... the studio work... I don't know if I'd want to carve that up into small sessions as opposed to being able to sit down and grind through whatever project I'm on. If that works for you though, then again, Hats Off, and good luck to you!

[Mock]

Yeah, that was my problem too. I kept skipping back and forth between projects and never got anything done. I figure this way I will at least be learning in a structured manner, and then I can devote extra weekend time to doing longer projects that put all of these smaller pieces together.

[Psychotime]

I really need to do something like this.

[GORILLAARTFARE]

you make it sound like such a chore..
you know sometimes you're going to be more inspired to draw characters than other days, or maybe one day you really just wanna do some still life...
I think you'd really be better off just to take it day by day, man...
This seems like kinda of a waste of inspiration and opportunity.

[Mock]

you make it sound like such a chore..
you know sometimes you're going to be more inspired to draw characters than other days, or maybe one day you really just wanna do some still life...
I think you'd really be better off just to take it day by day, man...
This seems like kinda of a waste of inspiration and opportunity.

Haha, I can definitely see what you mean. I probably do make it sound like I have to force my way through it. It's not that, I just get lost in all of the things I know I need to study, and get a bit overwhelmed. Maybe I should just block out more free time to draw whatever comes to mind, and have my "dedicated" time for things that I normally don't do much of, like weapon design and armor or something.

[biglu]

So I suppose my question is, am I forgetting anything? Are there any topics I'm not covering, or anything I'm devoting too much/too little time to? Any other ideas? I won't have a problem sticking to the schedule, I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Well all you need is a slot for Form & Space and you'll have the equivalent of a foundation level schedule at most art schools.

[Aphotic Phoenix]

I'm not sure about other schools, but at our university ALL art courses were 3 hours long 2x a week...partially because of clean-up time. XD

Maybe instead of making your fundamental work blocked into a specific chunk of time, you choose a fundamental theme to focus on across the subjects for the day? I.E. One/two days a week you focus on perspective, and everything drawn that day from gestures to vehicles should have pushing your perspective skills as the goal. Other "themes" could include Value, Line, Medium, Texture, Lighting, etc. Otherwise I'd suggest perhaps doing the fundamental work/exercises first as a warm-up, unless you feel that would discourage you from starting.

[paberu]

I think being organised is a great skill to have, but here is my take - quality over quantity.

I think you should focus on ONE thing a day, spend the time to do it properly and right. I can't stress the last thing enough, you will learn so much if you put in the time it requires to really understand how something works.

With that in mind, noodling on something that is going no where is a bad pitfall too, but that comes with practice knowing when you need to move on or if you need to spend the time to fix it.

Don't forget to plan the time for actual living and enjoying life - your art is the reflection of you as a person and what you have experienced in life.

[Stephen Mason]

i wish my uni time table looked like that. lol. x

[Flake]

No human anatomy or art history?

[Farvus]

That's great you got free time for art. Good luck in your journey.

So I suppose my question is, am I forgetting anything? Are there any topics I'm not covering, or anything I'm devoting too much/too little time to? Any other ideas? I won't have a problem sticking to the schedule, I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

There is no such thing as one perfect schedule that would work for everybody. I believe you make improvement much faster when you focus on practicing YOUR weakest areas. When you manage to overcome them, you look for new ones. Apart from that once in a while there is trying new things so that you grow versatile. I think doing it gradually is good to keep it fun instead of turning whole drawing into chore.

I'm mostly self-taught and I take it day by day. The only way of organization that worked for me was TO DO list where I point out things that need to be improved at the moment. For example doing ten pages of gesture drawings or digital value studies for few days. When I feel like I have enough of some excercise, I remove it from the list even if I end up half way. It's important beacause when I feel bored, it's much harder to concentrate and whole drawing becomes too automatic.
After going through all points from my list I create new one according to my actual needs. Sometimes it changes before I go through all things if I feel later there are some ideas that became pointless.
Very loose system but it's constructed especially to keep it fun .

[el coro]

i dont think an hour and 15 minutes is enough daily to be able to learn anything. if you really want to learn something, any one of those things is a (minimum) 3 hour session in my opinion. you need to spend some time concentrating and figuring shit out before you jump to the next lesson. otherwise you are going to just end up with a bunch of half baked thumbnails. art takes time. yes, even concept art.

my hope would be that if you're paying less attention to time, and just get into it, you will get faster at it, through repetition. i know thats how it worked for me. i commend you for being driven enough to make a regimented schedule, but you need to allow yourself time to absorb what you are trying to learn.

i know everyone learns at a different pace, but i think this moves a little too fast honestly.

take your time. just pay attention to what you're doing. thats really all you gotta do.

good luck!

c36

c36

[Kiera]

Good luck for your big project, I would like to add:

maybe take a day for one thing, or do a "theme week" - sometimes you get gripped by natural curiosity and this passion is one big drive to digg deeper and to really get those things in your brain. If you are not gripped, you will forget it much easier.
Or when doing poses and you feel that this day you have an excellent feeling for lines, go further with drawing the whole day, eventually you will do things that you have never done before and that will be important for your style.

take also time for doodling and experiments.
Fun art (doodling, non-sense pics) is the glue that hold everything together and makes you appreciate the things you just learned (what means: more passion and better learning).
Experiments are absolutely necessary to find a good style, shortcuts, to get a new, fresh view on things or to not get into a comfort zone by "just drawing and painting".
So, don't forget to also do things that seem to have no goal at all.

[Mock]

You guys are awesome. I think you're right that I need to expand the time and loosen things up. I know that I want to work on some sort of schedule to help keep myself focused, but after trying that last one for a week.. yeah. You're right, Coro. With changing subjects that often it's hard to retain much. So instead I'm making longer time blocks, adding in a bit of Art History, and making the subjects more broad to allow myself to draw a bit more of what I'm into at the time.

I added a few more hours because, well, I can't get enough of drawing lately. I'm more inspired that ever with the workshop coming up, and I really want to push myself to try and get into the CA Atelier by the end of the year. Or at least improve my chances. =)



I think setting a weekly theme might be a good idea too. Maybe rotating between fantasy, sci-fi, etc. So I can work on things that are outside of my comfort zone.

I have a list of various topics I can pick from to help me get inspired for each subject. I want to spread my casts out over like 60 hours to really push myself and prepare for what I've heard the Atelier can be like, haha.


Anatomy: Human, animal, long pose, gestures

Value/Light/Color: Color studies, self-portraits in b/w, anatomy studies in b/w, color previous designs and sketches, day/night images of the same scene, color moods

Design/Concept: Vehicles, weapon, characters, robots, mechanical, creatures

Environment: Perspective, architecture, atmosphere

Sketch: Free sketch/brainstorming period, old master emulation, form and space

Thank you so much for the comments and help so far. Hopefully this will help me get some good stuff together for Dallas!

[Helioth]

That looks like a good time table, personally I take 10 minute *brain breaks* every hour, I find this helpful to digest.

I try to make something a theme for a day, but I think If I could really make a schedule like you I'd probably get a lot more done.

Although I also believe coro is Right in saying a minimum of 3 hours to really get into things.

[KonnA]

Wow. Thats A LOT of hours... Why do you start so early?

I think you should definetly theme each day. Monday, Fantasy. You could draw a troll for creature a trebuchet for vehicle/industrial, and a wizard for character, a sword or staff for weapon.

Tuesday: Sci-fi
Creature: Space whale
Weapon: Black hole cannon
Character: Comet chaser
Industrial/Vehicle: Lava ship

haha something like that. Or it could be more open. Maybe Monday: Industrial Tuesday: weapons

I don't know. I think you really are going to work yourself stupid lol. Its hard to motivate yourself when you can't see the goal because that goal is limitless in this case.

What you going to be doing all this digital? I think you should dedicate some of this time to another trade in arts. Maybe skinning or 3d modelling. Or something. It means dam BROAD horizons.

[Smarty]

Good stuff, hen i get back to bristol I'm gonna have a bash at one of these.

[Max Challie]

Setting out a mechanical system doesn't work for me. I'd rather do what I feel like at the time, and really spend the time, enjoy myself. Just to immerse myself in something.. mmm

[JessiBean]

I agree with Max - making a rigid schedule sounds like a chore. Why not decide "I am weak on environments" and spend a solid amount of time working on that, improving that one area, until you feel more solid in it. Then, pick something else. Also, spend part of each day sketching/working on studies always - putting pencil to paper is key, much more so than making a rigid schedule.

[madster]

When does this "time off" and the "Schedule" start?
There is only 46 days left before Dallas.

This thread is over three weeks old.

How much actual drawing have you done in that time, and how close have you come to following any of your proposed schedules?

You're overplanning this. Make a schedule, and then try to follow it for one cycle, THEN make changes. Don't keep revising it without trying it.
You really need to get cranking to "get some good stuff together for Dallas..."

~M