For a long time I’ve struggled with how to organize my art practice. Over the years, I’ve found some structure. First, I have a well-developed daily art habit and I try to devote at least some time every day to my art practice. And because I’m at my best in the morning, I try to work then.

But I’m always feeling this push and pull. What should I work on and for how long? There’s so much I want to do! Between learning and practice, creative exploration and all the projects I want to finish—there never seems to be enough time.

And then I found Rebecca Green’s simple but clarifying approach: PRACTICE-PLAY-POLISH. What a perfect way to look at an art practice! It’s important to do all three, but not at the same time and not even on the same day. So now, each week I put all the items on my art to-do list in these three buckets and then I schedule the buckets as I have time.

The above figures are cut outs I did for a learning exercise from a great class on Skillshare from Ukranian artist, Anastacia Sholik: NOT Boring Characters: How to Create Unique and Memorable Characters. This was a PRACTICE session and it was fun and I think useful. I’m interested in developing things like this further.