Scheduling Your Drawing Time
By Bill Weissinger
Scheduling time to draw is important. As an example, I’ve set out below my personal log of a recent drawing project – generalized for your benefit – for which I’d scheduled one hour.
- What if terrorists are attacking at this very moment? One must keep up with what is happening in the world. Spend 20 minutes reviewing the news on the web.
- To draw well, being relaxed is important. Go down to the kitchen for a glass of wine. A snack might be nice too. Better, if you have a sweetie, a massage is a good way to get relaxed. Perhaps your sweetie has other ideas on how to relax you. If your sweetie moved fast, you now have twenty minutes left.
- It is important that your drawing instruments be ready. Sharpen each with care.
- Stare blankly at the paper for 5 minutes, because you know that the second your pencil leaves a mark on the paper you are going to begin defiling the beauty of whatever you are trying to draw.
- Finally, begin. But wait: weren’t you supposed to check in with your friend about getting together? Damn, he wasn’t home.
- Your drawing looks like a surprised ghost of a deformed old man. Know what would help? More wine.
- Finish the drawing two weeks later, under the press of the due date for an impending article.
- Realize that delays are merely avoidance behavior. Next time, set a drawing schedule for one hour, and use it all for drawing.
