Weekly insider: Volume One
Here we are again, O glorious Friday! And, of course, everyone is rejoicing not because it's the end of the work week but because it's time for another blog. This week however will be slightly different than last. This week I'll give a inside peek into how my week went, with all the bells and whistles. I think it's very important to understand that many artists have a rather chaotic process when it comes to working. I know very few who can work uninterrupted for 8 hours a day and repeat this process day in day out.
So the question I was always interested in when looking at a painting was "How long did this take?". Not just in the sense of hours on the actual painting and preparation but also over how many days that was divided. Since the moment I started painting I've never been able to sit down for long periods at a time working on something. I always have to tab out, get up, watch a TV show*, do something and come back. At this point it's easy to fan out and talk about stuff like speed painting and efficiency (and I will at some blog, I promise) but for now I'll break down this week for you. So if you work erratic, unstructured and all over the place, no worries. So do I.
Monday
7:00 AM - Got up because apparently the sun rises here in Malmö at 4:26 in the morning. No joke. Also, I've been too lazy to get curtains because the previous tenant even took off the rails. Thanks bro.
7:30 AM - Already working but I had a feeling this was going to be a weird day. I got a assignment from a client that I was super excited about but at the same time terrifies me (still not done). I start out with line sketches while watching Day9.
10:00 AM - Quit working to grab some food.
10:15 AM - Back to line sketching, did maybe 1 and a half but I keep trashing it. Up to layer 23 already with no sign of a good composition.
NOON - Lunch time.
12: 30 PM - Back to work, starting on a different piece. Not feeling the other sketch.
2:15 PM - Work not going anywhere, time for some Hearthstone (lost like a 100 times... GG)
4 PM - back to work
5:30 PM - Time to make dinner
7 PM - Back to work, struggling but it's ok.
9 PM - End of workday
Tuesday
Let me just start off by saying that Tuesday 10:30 AM is the worst time of the week. And here's why. It doesn't have the merit of feeling shitty on a Monday because we already had that. It doesn't have the midweek joy of Wednesday. Doesn't have the pre-weekend but sorta good focus time of Thursday. It's definitely not Friday. It's past breakfast but not quite lunch. It's coffee time but nobody has anything to talk about. All the shows have aired and weekend talk is done. Tuesday 10:30 AM, you suck.
7:00 AM - getting up again because this sun has no off button. Nor snooze.
7:30 AM - starting workday with some more Day9.
10:00 AM - First break. Working on the same piece as yesterday.
10:30 AM - Back to painting. Struggling but it's going OK. Getting quite frustrated with the tempo but there is nothing to do but push on.
11:00 AM - Cracked, started playing Overwatch again.
NOON - Lunchtime
12:30 PM - Back to painting
1 PM - Struggle is real, back to the line sketch of yesterday
3 PM - Back to the painting, sketch is still going terrible. Lost maybe an hour to watching shows.
5:40 PM - Time to make food.
7:30 PM - Back to work. Was pretty happy with the sketch so back to painting
9 PM - Workday done, painting done. Took me a few days before this week but yay!
Wednesday
8:00 AM - Rise and shine. It's cloudy! WHOOO!
8:15 AM - Starting the workday, I was fast today.
9:00 AM - Playing Overwatch because I lost focus.
10:30 AM - went grocery shopping, because, no focus.
11:00 AM - Back to work, sketching sketching sketching
NOON - Lunchtime
12:30 PM - Working on another painting. Still struggling hard with getting focus
12:31 PM - Petting the cat
1:00 PM - Cat finally let me alone, back to work.
4:00 PM - Got some work done but lost an easy 40 minutes to more TV shows, discovered 'The Wire'
5:00 PM - Time to make dinner, too hungry. Home made hamburgers!
8:00 PM - Back to work after watching Silicon Valley (its so good =D )
9:00 PM - end of workday
Thursday
8:30 AM - Got up after figuring out I can rearrange my blinds in such a way I get a whole 30 minutes less of blinding sunlight in the morning. We'll see if the experiment works.
8:31 AM - Start of the workday because fuck morning routines today.
9:30 AM - Start worrying about this blog
NOON - skip lunch, started to work on this blog.
1:30 PM - Done with the bulk of the framework for this blog, back to painting.
4:00 PM - Done with the painting, moving on to the next. I'm on a very tight deadline and it's stressing me out.
5:30 PM - done with the workday because on Thursday's I try to relax a little and not work dumb hours.
And Friday is still a mystery because these articles are written through the week and released and approved around 10 in the morning on Friday itself. But I bet it's going to be some work and then this.
So, a quick summary of what I've done this week:
Sketches: 7 done
Paintings: 2.5 done
Number of times I walked away to do something else: 748 or something
Average chrome tabs open: 5 windows, averaging 18 each. You do the math.
Hours of shows watched: 40+
TV shows: Season 1 of 'The Wire' almost done and caught up on all Day9 videos.
So that's it folks! A quick insight into my erratic work schedule filled with breaks and whatnot. This is how I love to work the most and how I get stuff done. Until next time!
- Titus
PS:
Overwatch:
* List of TV shows I watch:
- The Wire
- Rick and Morty
- American Dad
- Day9TV
- Modern Family
- Game of Thrones (Because Suzanne is making me...)
- Silicon Valley
- Any British crime series, River, Broadchurch, Sherlock, Ripper Street, Luther, Happy Valley, etc.