A New Possibility Reached!

Before I left for my Annual Thanksgiving Trip I wrote a post about the 4 commissioned drawings I have due soon; two of them before Christmas and two before the end of January. When I received the commissions I was nervous about being able to finish them on time, especially when 2 of them are going to be difficult to draw, because the photos are blurry or need alterations. 

In the past it has taken me weeks-months to complete a drawing, especially if there was no deadline attached. Sometimes I would plan a deadline for the drawings I wanted to finish, but I have never been able to keep the deadlines I personally set. With no real consequences if I didn't finish, there was no drive or motivation to work on the drawings every day and stick to my set deadlines. Only once in the 2 1/2 years in my studio have I been able to finish a commission in a week. That drawing was for a memorial service, so there really was no choice but to complete it by before the memorial.

However, this time it's serious! No goofing off or being lazy allowed. With all of the things to do for the Holiday Market (more about that here) I had to make sure that I was setting aside enough time EACH DAY to work on my commissions. I even took off time from work to have more time to daw and get things done. Normally I have to be to work at 7am. So instead I was at my studio at 7am, just to make sure I wasn't going to waste the time I could be getting paid for. Each day I set aside at least 3 hours to work on my drawings. I decided to work on finishing one drawing instead of working on all of them at once (which is how I normally work). This turned out to be a great idea. I ended up spending a few extra hours on Thursday and Friday to finished the drawing in time to display at the Holiday Market. I DID IT! I can't believe I was able to complete a drawing, from start to finish, in 5 DAYS!!!! That is the quickest I have ever drawn a commission! 

Yet, there is catch to all of this. I now know it is possible, that I am capable and that I have to time this month to draw every day for at least 3 hours. There is no excuse now. I need to continue to hold myself up to the new standard I have set and not fall back into my old way of not drawing regularly.

Here is the sequence of images for my finished commission: