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Welcome to the Drawing Board: #2!

Hi All!

Welcome to the first "full" newsletter! This week I'm starting to look at productivity concepts based on feedback from you, the community. We've also been putting out some really fun blog posts that I think you'll like, and there's an announcement further down below that I'm really excited about! Enjoy!

A Week of Blog Posts

This was the first full week of blog posts over on The Open Sketchbook!
Last week we looked at Per Adolfsen's landscapes (his NYC exhibition opens tomorrow if you're in the area!), and this week we have a lot more for you!

• Émile Friant's portraits
• Sketchbook Saturday: selections from my sketchbooks
• Catherine Kehoe's still-life paintings
• Vija Celmins' incredible drawings of surfaces,
• Andrew Wyeth's landscapes from the Brandywine Museum of Art's collection
• and today: Medardo Rosso's photography of his sculptures in his studio
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  The images below are links to each post:

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I've also introduced a weekly theme, "Material Mondays", in the first of which I explored my own Graphite Drawing Kit:

Do you have any material questions you'd like to see answered or explored in an upcoming post? Reply and let me know!

Productivity: A Commitment to Our Creative Habits

A while back I sent out a survey on art education, and the very first question was "what is the one thing you're struggling with the most in your creative practice right now?" - the responses were fantastic, generous, and so relatable. The most common response was "Time." We need more time.

I'm an avid reader, and one of the most helpful books that I tackled last year was Atomic Habits* by James Clear. I have a number of takeaways from Atomic Habits that I'd like to share with you in the upcoming weeks, but here are two things to consider this week if you're like me, and you feel like there just isn't enough time in your busy day for making your own art:

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1) Plan Your Time to Reflect YOU

We tend to prioritize our activities around our identity. If you identify as a runner, you'll prioritize running during your week because that's who you are. If you're an equestrian, you'll make time to visit the stables, ride, and feed your horse. (You'll also probably dig the January Still-Life Club reference!)

Yes, this is mindset stuff, but it totally works. This is the first thing I do when I'm settling into building a new habit, such as developing a healthier morning routine. I recently asked myself, "am I the sort of person who takes morning walks?" I wasn't sure. But: I like the idea of being the guy who "takes morning walks to think and meditate on the day". It's the same thing, walking in the morning, but I want to be the type of person who goes on walks to meditate, and plan my day organically.

James Clear sums it up really well:
"Every action you take is like a vote for the person you want to become."

And now I go for morning walks, and surprisingly, I have time to do so, because we will accommodate actions that are in line with who we know ourselves to be (or, who we want to be.)

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2) Setting Habit Goals so Manageable They Guarantee Progress

If you're anything like me, when setting a creative goal, you tend to get lost in the details and the grand scope of possibility. I'll spend hours, and days, visualizing what a new painting could be, down to the fun textures, color shifts, and scale of the surface (and frame) that when it comes time to actually get started on the artwork I sorta get paralyzed. I tell myself I don't have time to get started, when what I mean is I don't have time to execute that massive vision right now.

We all know that the best way to tackle a large vision like that is to break it down into its component parts and develop an action plan (that's what a lot of studio art education is), but how can you do that if you don't have the time?

One way is to develop a dedicated creative habit that requires action that will produce an outcome of some kind that moves you towards your creative goals (and lines up with the type of creative person you want to be, right?)

I recommend putting the massive vision on the shelf for the time being and focus on developing that habit first. Let's take a look at the morning walk routine that I've been working on:
Originally, I wanted to spend about an hour every morning going for a walk. An hour feels healthy, it's usually a solid block of time to get things done, and feels good visually on my calendar. Let's do it, right? Well- turns out I need to go to sleep earlier to accommodate that much extra morning time all of a sudden. Also turns out I'm more out of shape than I was hoping I was, and an hour wasn't exactly "easy", fun, or meditative. That hour also isn't easy to travel with, meaning that I don't have routes planned for the different areas where I travel and work. After a few days, it just didn't seem to fit my schedule after all. Too much friction. I'm a busy guy. No time.

James Clear recommends finding a version of your habit goal that is able to be done without fail. This is the main point of his book*- small actions that add up over time. I adjusted my morning routine to include a 20 minute walk, and committed to doing it every day no matter what. I have 20 minutes- I waste 20 minutes so often throughout my day, I definitely know I have that to spare. Do I need to adjust my sleep schedule? Not really. Can I find a simple walking route in the cities I travel to each week to keep this up? Yeah, totally. Is 20 minutes difficult to walk? Nope. And it's gotten so much easier, and enjoyable, that I've started to increase it- but that's not really the point right now.

The real point is this: I started a habit that really can't fail, that aligns with my goals and who I want to be. After some time had passed, I started to fall into the routine, and I would plan how I would use that time, instead of just performing the habit- it became a "given". I started thinking "I'll use tomorrow's walk to figure out what I want to work on for this meeting", or "I'll listen to this episode of a podcast to refresh before I build on the ideas in my teaching", etc. I was using the time now.

A fantastic implementation of this concept was pulled off beautifully by one of our awesome community rockstars, Kenzie. She tackled the 100 head challenge (more than once, if I recall?) by limiting her time spent on each head to around five minutes. By reducing the time to something more than manageable scheduling wise, she was able to not only finish, but challenge herself along the way (a five minute head is not easy!!) Something massive like drawing 100 heads in her sketchbook became very doable because of her ability to find a fun way to manage her goal, set manageable expectations (a five minute head is just that, though it was inspiring what she was able to do within that limited time-frame!) and develop a sketching habit to get it done in style. Thanks again for sharing those with us during the Virtual Studio hangout sessions, Kenzie! I think about them a lot!

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Coming up next week: Setting yourself up for success by removing friction!

*Please note- these are affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase through that link, I'll make a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend things I actually use and like, so if you have any questions, please give me a shout!

The Open Sketchbook Podcast: Coming Soon!

I'm super excited to announce that we're adding a podcast of our own to our community! I can't wait to share with you the guestlist that's been lined up, and the different episodes that've already been planned. It's going to be fun, and I'm really looking forward to getting into this new project with you all! More soon.

I thought this was a fitting quote for our discussion on manageable creative habits.

Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate you being a part of our community. Have some art you want to share with us? Head over to the Discord and let us see what you've been up to! What'd you think of the productivity concepts? What works best for you? What're you favorite creative habits that you've developed for yourself? I'd love to know.

Additionally, I know some of you are in the Los Angeles area, and are dealing with the devastating fires happening at this moment. I hope you and your loved ones are safe - if you have a minute, please let me know that you're alright. Here's a resource document that you might find helpful? Let me know if I can do more.

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Happy drawing,
Evan