Artists need a place to make their work. An artist’s workspace is called their studio. It is important to have good studio practices, good Professional-Practices-for-Artists , and good Safety practices. Good time management is needed to successfully run an artist studio.
Setting up a Studio
An artist may use a studio temporarily or over many years. In its simplest form an artists studio is a place to make work and to store completed work. A basic studio should have:
- good lighting
- adequate ventilation
- sturdy work surfaces
- chairs
- storage space
- tools for making
- materials for making
Nothing else is needed to get started making in the studio. As you begin working you will develop custom methods that will require rearranging the layout of your studio. A process may require a single long table or many separate small tables. Your skills will develop and dictate what equipment is needed in your studio. A studio is a constant work in progress and is always in flux, following the creativity of the artist.
Batch Process Everything
Make studio work like a “One Person Factory”. Instead of doing all the steps of a process in order if you need to make 50 of something. And do step one 50 times then step two 50 times then step 3 50 times then step four 50 times. This will be much faster and efficient and will result in higher quality output. Then if you did step one then step two then step three, then step four 50 times in a row.
Remove Friction From the Making Process
Organize Your Tools
Usually keeping tools in an organized system will make your production more efficient and allow you to produce more and better work but not always. Creating fluctuates between order and chaos. Often in the flow of creating and experimenting with new ideas, tools and materials can get tossed all over in the studio and make a disorganized mess. Eventually this mess will make new progress hard and it is best to pause to clean up the studio. Switching tasks from making to straightening up can lead to new insights and inspiration.
When should you clean up your studio?
- Are you spending more the looking for a tool or material than using it?
- Did you recently get to a milestone or stopping point in your project?
- After finishing a project presents an opportunity for reconsidering and organizing your studio.
- Before starting a new project lots of open lateral surface space can help reduce friction in tackling new ideas.
- When you have a creative block, spending a bit of time on relatively mindless cleaning and straightening of your studio can often free your cognitive loads so you make a creative breakthrough.