How to Make Time for Art (Busy Artist Guide)

These days, our lives are busier than ever.

It often seems difficult to make time for art because you have too many things to do, responsibilities to deal with, and job duties.

Nevertheless, there are always ways to make more time for the things that are important to you. You just need to use the right strategies.

That’s why, in today’s article, I’m sharing 10 solid strategies to help you find time to make art, including:

• Time management tips for artists to help you prioritize time for art
• Organization tips to help you plan, prioritize, schedule, and set goals
• Skills to help you create art more consistently and at a faster pace

By the time you’re done reading, you’ll realize you have more free time than you think.

1. How to Make an Art Schedule

Trained or professional artists often have schedules to keep them disciplined and focused.

So, it’s best to do as the pros do and create your own art schedule. After all, it’s one of the best resources for self-taught artists or hobbyists who need more structure.

First things first: in order to make time for art, you need to understand how you’re currently spending your time.

So take out your calendar and consider your daily activities. Your job. Your personal responsibilities such as kids, a partner, etc.

Secondly, eliminate any activities that are:

1. Not a priority
2. Time-wasters (binge-watching TV, scrolling social media, etc.)
3. Aren’t fulfilling

Once you’ve eliminated activities that are not serving your overall well-being, you’ll realize that you suddenly have more free time available to prioritize the things that are most meaningful to you.

2. How Do You Figure Out Time to Draw?

Now that you’ve eliminated unnecessary activities, it’s time to block in some time on your monthly calendar for your daily art practice.

Start out by choosing a small goal and then work you way up to a larger goal every week.

For instance, start off by planning 10 minutes of daily art practice in your schedule. Then, decide how many times a week you’ll commit to that goal.

For example, your goal could look something like this:

• Make time for art from every Monday to Friday (5 days a week)
• Practice my drawing skills for 10 minutes every evening

As you begin to cement this new routine, increase the duration until you’re spending a moderate amount of time on your craft everyday.

By working in small increments, forming the new daily habit won’t feel so overwhelming.

What’s more, in the future it will become easier to build up the habit to, let’s say, 30 minutes every single day of the week.

3. Make Art Part of Your Routine

Once you’ve created a monthly schedule in which you’ve planned out when you’re going to create art, it’s time to learn how to make art part of your daily routine.

Did you know that it takes at least 21 days or 3 three weeks to start building the neural networks that create new routines?

Therefore, if you want to successfully make time for art everyday, you must stick to your calendar and not skip any days.

The more you cheat, the less likely you will be to succeed

One of the best ways to incorporate art into your daily routine is to create art at the same time and in the same place every single day.

In addition, a pro tip is to leave your favourite drawing supplies and tools on your desk or somewhere visible in your workspace. That way, the visual reminder will encourage you to stick to your goal.

As well, you could wake up a little bit earlier every morning to spend some quiet time making art while the rest of the house is still asleep.

Conversely, you can stay up later and create art at nighttime as a way to unwind and relax before you go to bed.

Whatever you decide, make sure you stick to that schedule until the habit becomes second nature.

4. Participate in a 30-Day Art Challenge

Participating in a month-long art challenge can be an excellent way to motivate you to create something new every day.

Remember, the art making process is all about experimentation and trial and error.

So even if a 30-day challenge seems like a big commitment, it’s really not. Once you learn to let go of your perfectionism, you’ll realize that drawing everyday is about practice and learning, not perfection.

To help you get into the right mindset, treat the 30-day art challenge like a real contest or like your day job. That way, you’ll be more motivated to complete the challenge.

To get you started, here are 2 examples of well-known monthly art challenges:

• Mermay (in which you draw different mermaids all month long)
• Inktober (in which you follow prompts to draw something in ink every day throughout the month)

After you’ve completed the month-long challenge, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much your art skills have improved in such a short amount of time.

5. Use a Habit Tracker

If you have trouble sticking to your commitments, then I suggest you use a habit tracker to hold yourself accountable.

You can get started by doing 1 of the following:

• Create your own habit tracker from scratch
• Design a habit tracker in your bullet journal
• Find and download a premade habit tracker online

Once you have your habit tracker, all you have to do is fill it out according to your goals.

For example, if your art goal is to draw with graphite pencils for at least 30 minutes, then write that goal down on your habit tracker.

Then, for each day that you complete, you can colour in the square to track your daily performance.

For some people, this can be an excellent way to motivate yourself to make art every day.

Even if you aren’t as successful as you would like to be the first month you try it, don’t give up!

You can continue to use habit trackers to analyze how your new art habit is developing each and every month.

Note: Need a habit tracker? You can download this free habit tracker from Clementine Creative.

6. Finding Drawing Prompts That Inspire You

Don’t wait for inspiration to find you because that could take a very long time… especially when you are already suffering from art block or creative burnout.

Instead, be prepared ahead of time so that when you do make time for art, you aren’t wasting your time and energy exploring the Internet looking for the perfect ideas.

To stimulate your creative juices, you should create or find a list of creative prompts that you can use on a regular basis.

If you want to save time and energy, I’ve got you covered! Simply download my free list of 100 creative drawing prompts to consult whenever you’re looking for exciting subject matter to draw or paint.

I use it all the time, and it can definitely be a lifesaver when you find yourself in a creative rut. All you have to do is pick a prompt and start creating.

Easy, right?

7. Always Carry a Sketchbook with You

This tip is an easy way to make time for art as often as you can.

Preferably, your sketchbook should be a moderate or small book that is lightweight and easily portable. That way, it will be easy to carry with you wherever you go.

Also, don’t forget to take a pencil, pen, eraser, and a portable watercolour set, too.

Keep your sketchbook in your backpack or purse and take it out whenever you have a few spare minutes to sketch or doodle.

For instance, you can whip out your plein air painting equipment or drawing supplies whenever you are:

• Riding the bus
• Sitting in a café
• Lounging at the park, beach, etc.
• Exploring a museum
• Waiting in line

As you can see, it’s fairly easy to take out your sketchbook and draw for a bit even when you are out and about enjoying your day.

What’s more, when you change your environment, you might realize that you can find new drawing inspiration when you visit new surroundings and experiences new things.

8. Put Your Phone Away

Be completely honest with yourself…

…do you spend too much time mindlessly scrolling through social media? Or perhaps you spend hours watching YouTube everyday?

If you can relate, then consider putting your phone away for a while during the time that you’ve dedicated to work on your art.

In order to do this, you must do 1 or more of the following:

• Put your phone in a different room
• Switch your phone to Airplane Mode
• Turn your phone off completely

When this is done, you will have eliminated a huge source of potential distraction. Now that your phone is out of sight and out of mind, you’ll have an easier time focusing on your artwork.

This strategy is effective because you won’t be distracted by incessant notifications, loud phone calls, or random text messages.

You’ll discover that it’s easier for your mind to focus on one task—such as finding easy sketches to draw with pencil—when your attention isn’t divided by all the noisy interruptions on your cellphone.

9. Find an Accountability Partner

Perhaps you don’t think you have the self-discipline to make time for art everyday. Or maybe you’re prone to losing interest or energy after a few days of committing to something new.

If that’s the case, don’t be hard on yourself.

A strategy that may benefit you is to find a friend, family member, or spouse who can become your accountability partner.

An accountability partner is someone who holds you accountable to whatever it is that you’re doing.

If you inform your buddy about your new commitment to make art recurrently, then you can check in with that person on a regular basis.

By sharing your progress with your accountability partner, you will be more motivated to stick to your new habit because your partner will be expecting to hear how well your progress is coming along.

As a result, you’ll develop greater responsibility for your new habit, which will make it easier for you to stick to.

What’s more, if your accountability buddy understands art, don’t be afraid to ask for art criticism so that you know what skills and techniques to work on.

10. How Can I Make My Art Faster?

Now that you know of several strategies to help you more time for art, you probably want to know how you can be more productive during the time that you’ve allocated to your daily art practice.

If your goal is to start making more art at a faster pace, then you need to be serious about your commitment to improve your skills.

Here are some tips on how to make more art on a daily basis:

1. Create or download a list of free drawing prompts
2. Draw or paint nonstop for an extended period of time. Don’t worry about mistakes or inaccuracies. Just create
3. To master any subject matter, draw it over and over again to build muscle memory. Each time you draw it, you will develop the skill to replicate it faster and faster
4. Draw loosely and from the shoulder. You will feel more relaxed. When you loosen your grip, your hand can glide across the page more quickly
5. Let go of your perfectionism and stop nit-picking every little detail. You’ll only slow yourself down and make yourself frustrated by obsessing over the small things

Follow this advice and I assure you that you’ll notice an improvement in the amount of art you can create during any given period of time.

Just give it a try and you’ll see for yourself!

Conclusion

There you have it: several organization and useful time management tips that can help you make time for art on a regular basis.

An important thing to note is that these things take time.

Don’t expect to master your new habit or routine over night.

And if you struggle at first, understand that it is all part of the learning process.

What’s important is that you don’t stop and you don’t give up.

After all, the only way to get better at art is to practice your skills on a regular basis. The hard truth is that if you don’t practice, you’ll stagnate and never improve.

So do right by yourself and keep going until creating art becomes engrained in your daily routine!

Do you make time for art on a regular basis, or do you struggle to find the time or energy to create? Share your experience in the comments!

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