Time is of the Essence

So, it's late. I should be asleep but I had to drink caffeine for my headache so I'm still awake. And you know when's the best time to write a blog post? When you're blearily incoherent thanks to sleep dep! Hooray!

Mostly, I've been thinking about art a lot lately. I'm accumulating everything I need to apply for Pixar, but it's slow going. Do you know how hard it is to write a comic-ized cover letter? It's like as hard as a cover letter times two. But I'll figure it out and I'll knock it out of the park when I do, because that's just what I do. Take that, self-doubting naggery!

I have now improved enough that I'm looking back at some sketches I thought were amazing less than a year ago and now wrinkling my nose and going, dear lord, get that girl some lessons! That's a pretty cool feeling. But then, that's also what I wrote about in my last post, so I don't think it needs another repeat.

No, instead, I think I'm going to talk about time management.

One of the biggest problem that faces freelancers is time management, you know. Especially when you don't have a separate office to go to, delineating between home and work can be very difficult. Or even non-existent. Doubly so if you work in the comics industry, because comics take a lot of time, work, and effort, and I know most comic artists work day and night, seven days a week, sometimes without sleep. Because we're crazy people! And if you work in comics you have to love what you do, or else...well, you're never gonna make it, kid! It's grueling work. I can't imagine doing it if you don't love it. Eep!

But time management! Right, let's get back to that.

So, with no clear line between on- and off-work hours, being a slave to The Deadline rather than The Workday, and silly things like 'remembering to eat' and 'sleep? what's that?', it can be difficult to keep your time managed. Now, recently, I learned that the very hard way. I worked myself way too hard for too long and wound up making myself sick. After working a few 13-hour break-free days in a row, you know, it kind of takes a toll.

Part of the problem is I love what I do so damn much that, left unchecked, I will happily run myself into the ground if I get to keep drawing. The other problem is that I am absolutely dedicated to meeting my deadlines, and if I forget I already have too many and take on another freaking project, I will sometimesusually pick deadlines over health. This is obviously a problem!

So, I spent my enforced week-long vacation figuring out how to better organize my work day and my work flow so this doesn't happen again. First, I laid down a list of goals:

1. Get at least 2 pages done per week; optimal: 3 (one for buffer)
2. Make sure there's time to do non-page work like thumbnails, or advertising
3. Take breaks
4. Work "normal people" hours (i.e. try to stick to around 8 hours a day -- not 14)

I already work mostly on a schedule, getting up at the same time and starting work at roughly the same time, so that wasn't a problem. I went and asked for advice from people, and was told to aim for a 40 hour work week, and take breaks every two hours.

First off, the breaks every two hours thing did not work well for me. It broke up my creative flow and made it hard to get started again. However, I've discovered a nice little schedule that works well:

1. Try to stick to 40 hours a week.
2. Alternate inking days and coloring days.
3. Take breaks whenever you reach the end of a "stage" or when it's creatively appropriate to put the pen down. Do not skimp on this, do not forge ahead anyways, do not pass go and collect $200.
4. When you've reached 8 hours, you're done for the day. No ifs, ands, or buts.
5. Take at least one day completely off a week. An additional day must be at least partially off.

By alternating inking days and coloring days, I'm splitting the bulk between two days, which should give me about 6 hour days of just working on WoBG. It's also good because I can get at least half a page done for the buffer each week; more if I choose to work six days a week. Plus, the additional hours after inking/coloring is done can be used for those extra tasks of thumbnailing, and so on and so forth.

So far, this has worked beautifully. I'm feeling a lot less harried, and a lot less burnt out. Today, I got to leisurely map out and ink an old secretary roll-top bureau for page 21 without feeling pressured, because I don't feel like I have to finish a page a day. (And thank goodness because these pages are monstrously time-consuming.)

Also, it bears mentioning that we decided to drop the schedule back from twice a week to once a week for this month, while I build up a buffer. I expected criticism for this decision -- lord knows I've heard enough complaining about this in the past -- but actually we got some very supportive comments for it. We have the best readers!

Anyway, that's my thoughts on time management. Have you guys implemented any tips and tricks for managing your time? Freelancing can be so crazy!