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How Productive are You?

I'm just sitting here wondering. You know, Last night I colored two pictures and get them to where I was willing to show them off. Today I did a few sketches of my dog and drew up a roughly three hour line drawing picture and didn't complete it.

So, what kind of production is common for you people?

How many piece do you work on in a day on average?

How many get finished? (inked, colored, painted, etc)

How many are just sketches?

How many are Works in Progress?

How long does it usually take you from the moment your pencil/pen/brush/blood hits the page to when you hold it up and present it to the world as "complete?

For me, I usually work on one to two pictures a day when I actually get around to working on anythintg. It takes me at the very least a day to finish a picture (a few hours on rare occasions).

How normal am I compared to you?

Well, I do LOTS of sketches during the day but that is because I have lots of free time during my classes and it's a perfect time to draw since I'm already thinking. It usually takes me about a minute to decide what I'm going to draw but I never complete them (ink and color them.) They just stay sketches that I use for references. If I create a sketch that I really like I'll scan it and try to color it in that way but it usually takes a day or two for me to finish tracing over it and coloring it digitally. Well, I'm finished talking. ^^

Oh interesting, I'd been curious about that myself actually. Sounds like you get in a lot more productive time than I do though. I get in (lately) at least an hour a day and I only work on one picture at a time generally. Before I start drawing on either something I'm going to finish or practice some anatomy stuff, I do a few quick 15-second sketches of random figures or my dog or something as a warm up. From start to finish....hmmmms. Depends on how smoothly it all goes. Hehe. I'd guess 3 hour range usually though. I ink in Photoshop though which can take awhile sometimes and lately I've been coloring the inked lines which also tacks on a bit of time sometimes. :P Might be faster ways of doing it but I haven't figured them out yet. Hehe.

I'm extremely unproductive. I work in spurts that come every few weeks, and I'll do a few sketches I like, then start two or three digital paintings and finish just one or two. It probably averages out to 2 pieces a week when I'm at my most productive. I really need to get better about that though

KoOkY, 15-second sketches? Wow. Even my sketches usually take at least 15 minutes. Some of them take a couple hours.

How productive I am depends upon my mood and my time. Sometimes my job keeps me too busy for much art, and I tend to be hit by fits of inspiration and slow points. I don't sketch nearly as much as I should, and I know it would help my art a lot, but I like finishing pieces, and tend not to start unless I have a clear vision in my head.

At present, I have three detailed pieces I am working on, and have been taking stabs at two others. The piece I'm the furthest with has about 10 hours of work in it so far, and I think I have nearly that many to go. The other two have about four hours each, and I expect them each to take 20-30 hours total.

I've been working on a knotwork commission, but knotwork is one of those strange things that comes when it wants to, and this piece has been slow to come. So far, I think I've put somewhere between 20 and 30 hours into it, but it's hard to say since the progress has been so halting.

I've been trying to put together a larger minimalist piece with multiple subjects, but I haven't come up with anything worth posting.

Sometimes I get frustrated with the slow pace of my major art, so I'll do up some smaller pieces or sketches. A couple weeks ago I drew up three ACEOs in a couple days. A couple weeks before that I did up about a dozen sketches in a weekend. I tend to draw up minimalist pieces in batches. Last summer I drew up some 15 or so minimalist cats in one weekend.

Sidney Eileen said: KoOkY, 15-second sketches? Wow. Even my sketches usually take at least 15 minutes. Some of them take a couple hours.

Oh these aren't full out complete sketches. :) They're gesture drawings that you can do in 15, 30 or 60 seconds generally. Object is to get the complete form down on paper in the time that you have and try to capture more of the gesture and flow of the body rather than a complete finished outline. Lemme find an example.... http://www.kitsunestudios.com/images/portfolio/p01_gestures.jpg There, like those things. I believe these are 30-second sketches. But they're really great practice and a great warm up exercise. Like doing 5-10 minutes of 30 second sketches before moving on to those hour long drawings like you were talking about. Supposed to be done with a model usually, but without one of those handy every day of the week, I go off of pictures on-line or magazines or whatever is handy. :)

it all depends on my mood and how well I am feeling. sometimes i will feel totally unmotivated when I have to work on a commission and find all of a sudden the drive just appears midway. Other times not so.
Sometimes I sit down to complete/work on/start one project and I will quit halfway and work on something else (I have artistic ADD i swear..) I "doodle" alot on the train (i have a steady hand form this >_>) and between stops on the way to school, as well as in the lobby before school. Atmosphere also plays a big role as well. I may not be in the mood to draw at all, but when I go into this "new age" store near my school East West books and sit down in the cafe the enegeries are absolutely electric. Art just seems to flow from me there for some reason. Music also plays a big factor for my production. If I have music on that influences the piece or not it may come out faster. Also their are other factors like how rendered the piece has to be etc.
Obviously my illustrator projects take less time and I prefer those over fully rendered ones lately.

If it's bigger say like the Shi'Rah image, it can take me a couple of weeks on off but as Benvoilio proved, as long as I have the time I can pull that sorda thing off in a couple days max. I'm pretty slow normally so it can actually take me a couple of days to get a base sketch sorted or a general sketch if it's bigger than my little notepad.

It all depend on mood and time I have really and if my tablet is fritzing. I doubt being easily distracted helps either but it can take me so long to do small things like body shape that I take frequent breaks.

KoOkY! said:Oh these aren't full out complete sketches. :) They're gesture drawings that you can do in 15, 30 or 60 seconds generally. Object is to get the complete form down on paper in the time that you have and try to capture more of the gesture and flow of the body rather than a complete finished outline. Lemme find an example.... http://www.kitsunestudios.com/images/portfolio/p01_gestures.jpg There, like those things. I believe these are 30-second sketches. But they're really great practice and a great warm up exercise. Like doing 5-10 minutes of 30 second sketches before moving on to those hour long drawings like you were talking about. Supposed to be done with a model usually, but without one of those handy every day of the week, I go off of pictures on-line or magazines or whatever is handy. :)

Ah! I see. Yes, I should do those. It would doubtless be good for me. ;)

http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html

Scraffic, that link is awesome... You're full of good resources :P

Scraffic said: http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html>

Wow!! Thanks for the link! That's going to save me a LOT of time and trouble.

Scraffic said: http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html>

Awesome!!!! :D
Glee!!!

Wow, so many responses, thanks you guys!

It's very interesting to hear about what it's like for all of you and it's also extremely refreshing and encouraging to here that I'm not alone in how my inspiration comes and goes. There are times where I get into an artist's block of sorts and for the life of me NOTHING comes out, or if something does manage to find it's way onto paper, it doesn't come out right.

KoOkY! said: Before I start drawing on either something I'm going to finish or practice some anatomy stuff, I do a few quick 15-second sketches of random figures or my dog or something as a warm up.

KoOky, that's an absolutely wonderful idea. I used to do that all the time at the campus by drawing people who were wandering by. I don't know why I've drifted away from it, but I keep getting hints that I should be getting back to it. Thanks!

Seth Desmoen said: I'm extremely unproductive. I work in spurts that come every few weeks, and I'll do a few sketches I like, then start two or three digital paintings and finish just one or two. It probably averages out to 2 pieces a week when I'm at my most productive. I really need to get better about that though

I'm exactly that way. I'll have at any given time 10 to an infinite number of "Works-in-Progress--hey, it really seems that way to me. I'm always starting something new and it's such a bear for me to get myself to "complete" a project. I almost get depressed when I get towards the end, not to mention anxious because completion means it's show time, the most nerve wracking part of the process for me, PLUS each time I finish a piece I look at it and worry over whether or not I can do better next time...

Sidney Eileen said:At present, I have three detailed pieces I am working on, and have been taking stabs at two others. The piece I'm the furthest with has about 10 hours of work in it so far, and I think I have nearly that many to go. The other two have about four hours each, and I expect them each to take 20-30 hours total.

I've been working on a knotwork commission, but knotwork is one of those strange things that comes when it wants to, and this piece has been slow to come. So far, I think I've put somewhere between 20 and 30 hours into it, but it's hard to say since the progress has been so halting.

Ok, now this is VERY interesting for me to see. I have always felt that the time it takes for me to do the majority of the work I do if far, far too much. I've found myself spending over 10 hours on just a line drawing alone. So I feel a little less alone on that aspect of it. I still think I' far far too slow.

And...

Scraffic said: http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html>

That is freaking awesome! Thank you! Thank you everyone for the responses, lots of awesome food for thought and a bit of a pick-me-up in perspective as well. =)

One of the funny things about my art is that my fully detailed lineart tends to take about the same amount of time as my realism work. I think a lot of that is due to lack of practice, since the lineart pieces are far less frequent and thus far I have not been able to finish one without re-inking at least once. Even once I achieve a good speed, though, I still think they will probably take me about as much time as a simple realism piece.

I am at a point where I am working on a piece that is to eventually be completed every day. Typically it takes more than that one day to finish it, but yeah. Also bare in mind that a lot of that stuff is for school, which tends to be more of a time-waster than anything most of the time, getting in the way of much more interesting/profitable artistic ventures.

I do a lot of doodles. I do sketch figures quickly a lot, but I'm much more prone to just coming up with some goofy idea and spitting it out. I do lots of thumbnails for fleshing. You will never meet someone who sketches messier and less coherent than I. :P Attached is an example of idea-doodling stuff, for the curious.

Scribbles said: You will never meet someone who sketches messier and less coherent than I.

I think I have you beat on that. Here's one of mine. xD

Scribbles, those are absolutely adorable... Cute enough to melt any heart. ;)

Really like the cat thats smiling. :D

Scraffic, I'm bookmarking the figure drawing link. Thank you for sharing that, it will be a huge help as I need to improve my figure drawing. As for art, uhm... productivity depends on what you mean. if you mean productive as in i spend most of my free time drawing, yes I do that now :)

If you mean productive as in i get a piece down super ninja fast, no. I don't think my brain is wired that way but I make an effort to.