2024 Planning
2024 Planning
2023 was a year of learning to make art, even though I felt like an imposter. I intentionally used my monthly “fun money” to accumulate art supplies, and I got comfortable keeping a sketchbook and making lots of ugly marks on page after page… after page... after page. 🙃 It became a normal routine for me to take supplies on our vacations. And I even did some sketching out in public. 😱 Lots of growth to be had here still, but 2023 was a breakthrough year of just doing it.
It was also a year of consuming a lot of art on Instagram. This was extremely helpful for a while. I identified many artists I admire and would like to learn from. But by November/ December, I felt myself getting bogged down in inspiration overload. So before the new year, I blocked all social media sites on my phone and made a condensed list of people to take classes from in 2024. This practice helped me transition from just consuming to taking action.
Thinking through this stuff got me ready to spend dedicated time thinking about my specific goals for 2024. It took me a while to sift through everything floating around in my head. So I wanted to write this post to help me with planning and goal setting in years to come.
Here’s a quick outline of my process:
Get in the right headspace
I like to do this by exploring how other artists approach planning and productivity. I watched this video from Leigh Ellexson, this productivity video from Furry Little Peach, the 2024 Planning Party replay from Good Ship Illustration, and read this article from Liz Steel. Taking bits and pieces from all of these, I came up with my planning structure.Brief overview of the previous year
That’s basically what I wrote at the beginning of this post. I didn’t go into much more detail than that.Identify focus for the new year
2023 was a year of supply and inspiration accumulation. I hope 2024 will be a year of intentional skill development.Assess the budget and plan “fun spending”
My husband (Nick) and I are budget people. Budgets are often thought of as yucky, restrictive things. But being thoughtful about our resources has freed us up to spend a lot more on the things that are important to us. For me, that means spending more on art stuff!
This year, there are a good number of classes I want to take. And they add up quick! So Nick and I sat down to discuss what things could be shifted around to make these purchases possible. Believe it or not, it was a fun conversation! I’ll give a detailed list of classes and when I plan to take them down below.Write down specific goals
I let myself have more goals this year than I normally would. But some of them kind of overlap. And they’re all cohesive with goals Nick and I have set in other areas of our life. We’ll see how it goes! I might have to put more restrictions on myself next year haha. I’ll put my detailed goal list down below.
I decided to do all this planning in a zine format. This keeps everything together in a format that I can easily display for frequent review. Now let’s dive into more details for a couple of the sections.
SPECIFIC GOALS
CONSISTENT STUDIO TIME
6:00- 7:00 AM every day
General schedule of:
Su - Free play (just do whatever!)
M - Emma Carlisle Patreon call replay
Tu - Structured play (Emily Powell workshop, Sandi Hester class, Melissa Lakey workshop, or Emma Carlisle Patreon content)
W - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (I’ve been slowly working my way through this)
Th - Emma Carlisle Patreon call replay
F - Structured play
Sa - Skill development (Peggi Kroll Roberts or Liz Steel)FOCUSED SKILL DEVELOPMENT
In the schedule above I have “structured play” and “skill development.” I’m thinking of structured play as classes or workshops from artists that are a little looser in their format. Skill development, on the other hand, is more structured and focused on a fundamental element of art or a specific medium.
I’m hoping to balance growth in technical art skills while still having space to play and experiment.
You’ll see the specific “skill development” classes I’ve assigned to each month in the Skill Development Calendar below.DRAW EVERYDAY
This overlaps with the first two goals. But I wanted to keep it on the list. I can be pretty hard on myself. So I want a way to acknowledge small progress, even if I miss my full studio time for the day. A 60-second sketch is still a huge step in the right direction!TRACK PROGRESS
That’s where this website comes in. I plan to do a minimum of one post per month to track my progress throughout the year. Every other week would be even better. I’m going to create a review template for myself to make those posts super simple.
I see established artists that I admire, and I wish I could go back in time and see how they figured out/ worked toward their goals when they were just getting started. I hope that 10 years from now, this blog can give that insight to someone else. It’s hard not to compare your year 1 with somebody else’s year 31. Know what I mean?ART/ INSPO OUTINGS
Nick and I want to have at least 2 date mornings per month, so we’re going to incorporate intentional art inspiration into those. Sketching at the zoo, walking around our neighborhood, thrifting, visiting local museums, or hanging out and soaking up the vibes at our favorite coffee shops… it’s all fun and inspiring!INSPO FROM BOOKS (NOT SOCIAL MEDIA)
As I mentioned earlier, I got a lot of inspiration from Instagram in 2023. But I can tell I need a break. I’ve made a list of artists I want to learn from in 2024 - Peggi Kroll Roberts, Liz Steel, Sandi Hester, Emma Carlisle, Emily Powell, and Melissa Lakey. Still seems like a lot, I know… but you wouldn’t believe how much I condensed it down! So I don’t need to be on the hunt for other artists offering classes or workshops at the moment.
Instead, I want to stay focused on the classes and workshops I’ve listed for myself already. And then when I have a free moment, take advantage of the opportunity to flip through one of the many art books I’ve collected over the past year. I think sipping a cup of coffee while flipping through an art book will leave me feeling much more refreshed than scrolling Instagram.
SKILL DEVELOPMENT CALENDAR
January 2024
Planning
Create a blog to track progress
February 2024
Peggi Kroll Roberts - Learning the Fundamentals
DRAWING STYLES ($30)
LIGHT ON FORM ($30)
VALUES AND VALUE SCALE ($30)
FIGURE DRAWING ($30)
March 2024
Liz Steel Foundations Course (Purchase SKETCH YOUR LIFE BUNDLE for $497)
April 2024
Liz Steel Foundations Course (continued)
May 2024
Liz Steel Watercolor Course
June 2024
Liz Steel Watercolor Course (continued)
July 2024
Liz Steel Sketchbook Design Course
August 2024
Liz Steel Sketchbook Design Course (continued)
September 2024
Peggi Kroll Roberts
DOT SYSTEM OF ANATOMY ($30)
THE POTENTIAL OF THE 10 STEP VALUE SCALE ($30)
EXPLORING EFFECTS OF LIGHT ON COLOR ($30)
October 2024
Peggi Kroll Roberts
PRACTICE FOUR DRAWING TOOLS ($30)
SIMPLIFIED ADULT FIGURE PROPORTIONS ($30)
PAINTING SIMPLE FIGURES ($30)
MULTIPLE FIGURES IN A COMPOSITION ($30)
November 2024
Peggi Kroll Roberts
HIGH VALUE KEY ($30)
SIMPLIFIED PROPORTIONS OF THE HEAD ($30)
PAINTING THE BIG AVERAGES ($30)
December 2024
Peggi Kroll Roberts
VALUE & COLOR LESSON ($49.95)
MAKING MARKS ($24.95)
GATHERING INFORMATION EXTENDED ($26.95)
Well that’s my attempt at a simple planning/ goal setting process. Can you tell that I like to overcomplicate things?? I hope you find something in there that’s helpful. Happy 2024!
