How to Build Your Practice

Introduction

The ebbs and flows of your practice is unique to you, but we are all subject to having to jump through some hoops along the way. It’s easy to get into a bit of a rut, experience low motivation or be prone to a lil bit of imposter syndrome. Or maybe you get super overwhelmed with the amount of visual stimulus we are bombarded by on the daily, or wonder if you’ll have an original idea EVER!! We’re here to help! We hope this guide will act as a form of motivation for you - its purpose is to help strengthen your existing practice, or give some insight on how to start fresh!

Part One: How to organise your practice

Being ‘organised’ has a very different meaning for everyone. If making a simple list = organised for you… amazing!!! If having every single detail down on paper for you to map out a project = organised… perfect!! If making voice notes on your phone = organised… stunning!!

Below are things that work for us; they might help or inspire you to implement new methods of organisation into your creative practice, and are by no means the only things that work!

Shae’s Organisation 101:

• Get a weekly planner! I recently bought a weekly desk planner and it has eased soooo much of my anxious feelings around forgetting things or overworking myself. A weekly planner is (in my opinion) better than a typical diary, bc you don’t have to flick through any old pages, all your stuff is just there in plain and simple form! Also it’s great to see what you have planned over the course of the week so you can space out your tasks/projects in a way that doesn’t overwhelm you.

• Make your to-do list the day before! When I know I’ve got a million things to do, I’ll write a wee list on my phone or on a sticky note in a loose order just before I go to bed the night before. This means when I wake up, I have a clear head, and my day has been roughly mapped out, with small/more straightforward tasks first, then the more time consuming and heavy work last.

• Keep updating your calendar! This is probs so obvious, but I always make sure any upcoming deadlines are included on my calendar well in advance, so I can focus myself on important tasks.

Georgia’s Organization 101:

• One notebook to rule them all... I’ve been a religious agenda user all throughout my time at uni, colour-coding all my assignments, projects, deadlines, events etc was crucial for me to stay on top of everything! Someone once told me I was the most organizedforgetful person they ever met, because if I didn’t write something down as soon as it came to me it would be gone and I’d miss something important. When the pandemic started, I started bullet journalling. Bullet journaling is a bit more work than having a regular planner but as I’ve found, it’s only as much work as you want to put into it. I really like how customizable it’s been and it’s been really nice to have evvvveryyyy thing I need in one place. I have my calendar, to-do lists, J&J meeting notes, book lists, habit tracker, reflections, ideas etc all in one handy place.

• The do’s and don’t of a to-do list! We’re all familiar with a to-do list but I’ve recently realized there’s some things that make to-do lists better or worse for you…

  TO-DO DON'TS: sure it’s nice to put little insignificant things (or things you’ve already completed) on your to-do list to make urself feel more productive but sometimes it bites you in the butt because it’s an illusion and you end up not completing the important things on the list. (just me?)

  TO-DO DO’S: highlight the biggest and most important/pressing things, so you know what needs your immediate attention. Also if you have a big task, break it down into smaller pieces so it feels good when you complete bits of it to keep your motivation up!

• Time puzzle! If you’re a busy bee, think of your days like a time puzzle. Each thing you have to do today takes up a block of time, whether it’s 10 min or several hours, how are those blocks going to fit together?

Part Two: Tips on getting into a routine

This can be really tricky when you’re out of a school structure or regimented schedule, and not everyone needs a routine in order to be productive, but here’s some tips in case you wanna implement one into your practice.

Designate different things to specific days - for example, if you work Monday-Friday, allow space in one or two of your evenings for admin (if you have the mental/emotional capacity to do so), and a Saturday to working on projects (things like sketch booking or filming etc) and then have Sunday as your ‘day-off’ to regroup and make time for yourself.

If you work, or have other commitments/ways you spend time away from your practice, keep track of your ideas/thoughts on your phone or in a wee notebook. My best ideas usually come to me when I’m doing daily tasks like FaceTiming someone or getting some shopping, so writing these down is so important. I can then unpack them when I’m having a studio day.

Georgia’s top tip!! - I have to / I should… VS I want to…

It took me MONTHS after school before I finally figured out a routine I could stick to. For the longest time, I would come home from work feeling drained and exhausted, obviously not having the energy to go in the studio and then beating myself up during the evening because I felt like I should be in the studio. My current schedule wasn’t working so I tried waking up a bit earlier to get into the studio before work. It felt so good to intentionally carve out that time for myself and my practice, that I began really wanting to wake up early for that time. Plus, knowing I already had my morning studio time, I could enjoy my relaxing evenings guilt-free!

Part Three: Diversifying your artist research

If you go to art school, you’re probably fed up of hearing the same names being thrown around. It almost seems that there’s a set bank of artists that you “should” be looking into, when this is absolutely not the case. You can be inspired by literally anything and everything - if you’re a video artist, who’s to say you can’t look to a textile designer for inspiration? The first thing to note in this section, is to never limit the breadth and depth of your research to things that seem to “fit perfectly.” The things that don’t “fit perfectly” are equally as valuable and viable as the ones that relate to your practice directly.

Georgia says: When I first started getting into making character art, the first thing I did (after having my profs tell me to look at Cindy Sherman) was google “character artists”. My search wasn’t super successful and the artists I did find, while it’s nice to look at artists making the type of work you want to make, ultimately isn’t that inspiring in finding your own voice. The unexpected source of inspo for me was going to thrift stores and finding clothing and objects that I could fit together to make something new back in the studio. Don’t limit your artist search to those you think are immediately relevant to your work, instead cast a wide net for inspiration - which includes objects, places, experiences, music, film… the list is endless!

Shae says: It’s also super important that we don’t keep referring to the typical pale, male and stale (P.M.S.) artists that we are taught to admire. Including members of the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities in your research will not only strengthen your knowledge of wider issues that The P.M.S. cannot even begin to fathom or even attempt to relate to, but it will make your contextual understanding of the art world (and probs the world at large) much broader and deeper.

Where to start when looking for new artists… Georgia says:

1. One of my fave places to look for new artists is in books. I love flipping through pages of colourful images until I find something that stands out to me. The best types of books are broad ones like The 21st Century Art Book which only has artists that have made work in this century. This is merely a jumping off point - once I find an artist I like, I can look deeper into their practice online.

2. Ask your art friends who they’re looking at! Some of my favourite artists that I look to for research and inspiration were found by my studio mates.

3. Visit your local galleries and art spaces to see some work irl! Write down or take pics of the labels so you can keep track of who you liked.

4. Put on your detective cap on! Ok! So you’ve found an artist you like, time to do some digging. Look at what galleries they’ve shown at, who else has been shown at those galleries? You discover a massive bank of artists (from literally all over the world) that you probably never would have stumbled upon otherwise. ~ thanks Cassia Powell for this tip!

Part Four: Finding your “niche”

This can be really daunting, and you might feel a certain amount of pressure surrounding identifying your ‘niche.’ In this day and age it feels as though in order to be successful, you need to come up with THE most killer, most unique idea. When in reality, the most important thing is: that you’re making work that you love making.

Finding your niche/ your voice/ your creative calling can be really important to centring yourself in your practice. It can feel demoralising to look around at your peers who seem to have figured out their unique ‘style,’ while you’re still trying to figure yours out. I know this will be hard to hear, but it takes time!! And the only way to find your voice and have your ~a-ha~ moment, is to keep working, keep experimenting, try new styles and mediums, and get out of your head!!

If you’re feeling stuck and are looking for a place to start, check out what Mr. Jerry Saltz has to say: “Imitate… Then Separate.”

He says: “Imitation is a key to learning. We all start as copy cats, trying on other people’s forms and styles for size. It’s fine! Just don’t stop there. If all you do is pastiche, your work will end up as predictable art-lite, or picturesque kitsch. Topological form, structure, and originality are more complicated than just mastering a technique or mashing-up two unrelated styles. This kind of pastiche might seem clever, but it can quickly devolve into a soup of under-conceived, overtly obvious hybrids: Pop Minimalist, Abstract Surrealist, Street Cubist, Graffiti Impressionist. Half-baked forms without meaning. Art isn't about playing games with aesthetics. If you like experiments with pastiche, focus on the spaces between all these styles, forms, structures, tools, visual syntaxes and your imagination. These are gaps you need to probe. Keep at it until you feel the work start to become your own. It happens all the time. Think of yourself as landing in a huge coliseum filled with ideas, avenues, ways, means, electromagnetic pulses, materials, and internal game theories. Make these things yours. This is your house now.”

Part Five: Combatting Imposter Syndrome

So if you’ve chosen the career of being a working artist, at some point you’ve probably experienced or are experiencing imposter syndrome… The definition of imposter syndrome is: “the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills.”

The tricky thing with imposter syndrome is that your peers or your besties can tell you your work is incredible, show-stopping, totally unique, iconic, legendary, stunning, gorgeous until they are blue in the face!!!! but if you don’t believe in yourself and your work, you won’t believe what they’re saying! Your validation has to come from within, and this may be the hardest thing you’ll ever have to figure out as an artist. Here’s some things to keep in mind:

• Experiencing self-doubt is totally normal and happens to everyone in all fields (not just creative). There’s no way to completely eliminate this and that’s okay, because if you had 0 self-doubt you’d probably be an asshole who’s completely lost touch with reality. It’s important to find the root of where this self-doubt is coming from though, so it can be addressed. It’s okay to have moments of self-doubt but you don’t want it to rule your life.

• So what’s at the root of your self-doubt? Do you feel unqualified? Do you feel uninspired? Like the work you’re making is not good enough or unique enough? Did that pic you just posted to IG flop and now you feel like giving up? Understanding why these feelings are coming up is the first step to addressing them. The hard pill to swallow, is that there’s usually a nugget of truth in these doubts, but it’s also usually wrapped up in a bunch of extra BS that you can cut out. Maybe you feel unqualified to make a painting because you’ve only made sculptures in the past. Well!! You were qualified to make sculptures, and the only way to feel more qualified is to continue making work, or if you feel like you need a more concrete certification, then try taking a painting class! If you feel like your work isn’t good enough, by what standard are you measuring your work up to? If you are looking at your work and comparing it to someone who has a decade of experience on you, that’s not a fair comparison!

• Shaking your imposter syndrome is all about reframing the way you think about yourself and your work. Easier said than done!! Honestly, I wish I had a more eloquent answer to this problem but one of the ways I’ve been overcoming my imposter syndrome is by putting this brain cassette on repeat: “I am a fucking artist!!” You don’t have to cuss if you don’t want to but I feel like it adds that extra umph that’s needed to convince that lil saboteur voice in your head to shut up!! so you can get back to work.