Chewing Pencils

I’ve touched briefly on this before, but leading up to Christmas is probably a good time to mention it again.

If you’re a freelance artist of any nature, you have to learn to manage your time well. And you have to do it yourself because nobody will do it for you.

One of the most attractive things about the freelance lifestyle is the notion that there is no boss and time is yours. You can chose when to start and when to knock off. You can work in your pyjamas, in the park, in a cafe or wherever you can carry your tools. There is a lot of freedom - and that’s a good thing!

Freedom, however, can be the freelancers worst enemy. Starting late often means working long hours into the night. Taking on too much work means instead of the nine to five of an office job, we’re working 20 hours a day, seven days a week. Family suffers, friendships suffer and health suffers. The quality of life that we were hoping for turns out to be a mill stone around our necks.

Thus it is really important to manage your time super well, setting a daily and weekly schedule that allows for the responsibilities of home and the needs of yourself. If you have young children, for instance, make sure you set aside lots of time to play and do your drawing when they are asleep. Do your fair share of the household chores. Block out evenings to spend with your partner. Make time to catch up with friends.

Don’t spend every waking moment drawing.You might make some good money, but you’ll end up a boring hermit with no friends and a broken family. And even though you probably don’t have an ‘office’ as such, be creative about how you can make sure that you’re part of some sort of ‘office Christmas party’ to celebrate the end of another year.