How to Create Impressive Drawings on a Deadline

Meeting client needs is like hitting the lottery on a deadline.  Drawing faster is key.    

Hitting the Lottery on a Deadline

An illustrator on a Netflix series called Abstract: The Art of Design perfectly described meeting deadlines for clients.  He said to make any drawing that is a winner is like hitting the lottery but to make a winning drawing for a client is like trying to hit the lottery again on a schedule.  In season 1, episode 1 Christoph Niemann explained his work day and methods.  He said, “You measure yourself against a lucky moment and this is like really really painful.  You had this one bright spark three years ago and then the client asks you to do it again…How can you ask me to win the lottery?”  

That is exactly how it feels for me.  There is pressure to make something at least as good as your best work.  It is a matter of expecting bad drawings to come and taking it lightly.  

Three Ways to Deal with Intense Pressure:

Cristoph says the way to deal with that intense pressure is to:

• relax 
• don’t be so hard on yourself 
• practice and become better like an athlete 

John Twingley says that he used to make three drawings and let the client choose one.   That is brilliant.  It will force you to start early enough to knock out three, and that takes the pressure off.  On top of all that, you end up with two originals for yourself.

Drawing FASTER is Key

This is an area where I could use some improvement.  Drawing faster is something I need to practice regularly.  My current standard practices for creating artworks is much too slow.  A few ways to practice drawing faster:

• practice! draw many versions in your sketchbook
• try contour drawing  
• manage perfectionism; do not focus on small details; work on another part of the drawing and come back to it.  
• work all around the drawing focusing on basic shapes and refining proportions; the drawing should develop like a flower opens
• avoid fatigue; take plenty of breaks, step away to reassess the drawing
• change mediums if necessary e.g. avoid colored pencils, oil paint etc.
• consider what things may be distracting you; if you usually watch tv while drawing, try documentaries, music or podcasts.

At the same time I would like to design a lifestyle around marketing each work of art after is completed. 

• To be able to study each finished work and figure out how to market it later would be beyond excellent.
• That way I could think on which customers would be interested in a piece after it is already done.
• Deadlines would be drastically reduced or eliminated.

It would make me happy to feel free to create things that are outside of my usual production style and then sell the results.  The idea inspired this entire blog.  Now it is time to think on this more.

There are some other directions I would like to go and other art forms I want to try.  If I could figure out who the customers are after I make a piece, some of the pressure would be off.

New Art Methods to Try:

• linoleum printing
• puppetry
• paper mache
• pyrography
• quilting

About this drawing: 

A lazy susan on a chair was serving as a night table in my Atlanta apartment.  It was on the seventh floor with a fabulous view of tall buildings with glittering lights.  The shadows on these odd items inspired me to draw.  The end result of this drawing makes me happy.  I worked on it instead of sleeping.  The shadows on the night table inspired me to stay up and draw.  It looks like the bedside table of an elder person.  

Supplies Used to Make This Drawing:

The artwork in this post was made with a pilot V-ball extra fine pen in blue and black, watercolor, water based markers and God given gifts of seeing things that others don’t.

• A gift of an intense love of colors, combinations of colors, and patterns.
• A gift of hypersensitivity to sounds, textures, and light levels.
• A gift of seeing clearly slight differences in color and tone and also feeling vibrations and tones in others.