Question for artists: How do you get into the mood?

1. How much time do you devote to art during the week? it can depend on how inspired i get, anywhere from 0-20 hours 2. How much time does it usually take you to do 1 piece of artwork? i deal in photography, i usually spend about an hour trying to get the perfect shot, then about 20 minutes editing it (more or less depending on the look i am going for) 3. What types of art are you good at making? What types are you not i can draw with pencil, oil pastel, stipple (preferred) but mostly photography. i cannot by any means work with charcoal. i hate how messy it is and i always seem to smear my pictures beyond recognition before they are finished and sprayed. 4. How long do you work on a piece before you decide you like it? that depends. with photographs it doesn't take long.. with traditional drawing one never feels fully finished. 5. Have you ever thrown away an unfinished piece and been angry with yourself? many times. 6. Do you intentionally jack up the prices on your art when you sell it? I usually just give it away, if i can bare to part with it at all. 7. Do you want the right type of people to buy your artwork? it doesn't really matter much to me, although it would be nice to see something of mine hanging in the white house =D 8. Are you suprised when an piece you don't feel is good is highly praised? no, but I am surprised when one that I feel turned out extremely well is not liked. 9. What's the best way to help get you in the mood for art? It varies, sometimes i need to look at others pieces to get fresh ideas, or sometimes just seeing an odd texture or object will get my going, like in the grocery store a couple weeks ago i saw a pineapple. i bought it and spent about 6 hours playing with the angles and whatnot. 10. Do you think it's okay to mimic others art without actually originally? not if you plan on selling it. I have done it just to see if i knew how, but that is just for my own personal collection. i do, however, use others work to inspire me to try new angles or color schemes, etc. 11. What's your least favorite thing about art galleries? And the parties? honostly, i wouldnt know. I am not quite at that point yet. 12. What's the best thing about being an artist? putting myself into my pieces. emotional release, maybe?

Im not exactly an artist per se, just someone who likes to draw a lot, so take my answers with a grain of salt 1. I've never measured it. I doodle a lot throughout the day, if I like something I'll dedicate some more time to it later... so it changes from week to week i guess. 2. Depends on what I'm doing. I do a lot of short sweet pictures that take maybe forty minutes, up to about two hours. The longest I ever spent on a piece of art was in my highschool art class.. I worked on it fifty minutes every school day for about 2 months. 3. I prefer ink on paper, I do a lot of monochromatic style (no or little shading.) I'm pretty good with pen/pencil, less good with paints. I can't draw people without a reference. Oh, and I'm terrible at any sort of sculpture/pottery... if it's 3D I probably can't do it 4. I have a tendency to overwork a piece... I'll work on it til I like it but then decide its too incomplete and ruin it by adding something else. 5. Yeah, alda time 6/7. I've never sold my art 8. Yeah, usually after I finish a piece I only see what's wrong with it so it always surprises me when people love it. 9. It just kinda comes and goes. Sometimes I can force it by just sitting at a desk and doodling til something happens. Insomnia helps too 10. It's okay if you do something interesting with it. The 2 month project I mentioned earlier was basically taking ten photos of musicians, shrinking them, stylizing them to look good with just pen, and making a sort of collage out of them. At it's core its just me copying ten photographs, but it more interesting than any one of the photos (in my opinion) 11/12 I don't think I can intelligently speak about either of these sorry

I work full time at my design business, but, I'm lucky if I can devote 40% of it in actuall creative work. The rest is spent on marketing, collecting, bookkeeping, etc. That's just the nature of freelance art work. How long on each piece depends on the assignment. There really can be no average. A simple page layout for a flyer might be whipped out in half an hour. A full color illustation, done on paper might take several days. Some clients want to keep a close watch so several approval steps are written into the contract. Others are confident enough to let me work through. On a typical day, I may actually be working on as many as six different projects, but usually I have three or four. I may go through several weeks of simple page layouts, or another period of longer projects. Some weeks, business is pretty thin and I may not have much to do but try to drum up more sales. My strength is in realistic illustrating, from line drawings, to technical illustrations to full color paintings, but I get more joy from my cartoon illustrations. I find technical illustrations, like assembly blueprints VERY boring. (but it pays very well) I work on a piece until it's done. Period. I may be my decision or it may be the clients. There is no set time when this happens, but, over the years I have been pretty good at estimating, before I start, how long it will take. This is VERY important as each contract can depend on how long the job takes. I make my estimate and then DOUBLE it. It is THIS figure that gets written into the contract. That way, when I finish on time, the client is happy. It also gives me time to fix mistakes and get the job done withing the deadline. I start most projects with a LOT of quick thumbnail sketches. It may be dozens of drawings. I narrow these down, eliminating ideas that don't seem to work towards a design solution. I then take these few left to show the client. We discuss them and it is usually him that decides which direction to take. This thumbnail step saves a LOT of potential time as there is less chance either I or the client won't like the end result. Even if the result is not satisfactory, as long as I had the client's approval at the start of the project, any major changes in direction will be paid for by him. Angry? Heck no. These changes means I get paid more at the end. I don't know what you mean by "jack up the prices." I run a design business. If I'm not making a profit, then I am doing something wrong. I know what my artwork is worth. It is competive with other designers in my area doing the same kind of work. Whether I make any money or not depends largely on how efficiant I work. If I can get done faster, then it leaves more time to work on other revenue producing projects. With few exeptions, the "right kind" of people are the clients that pay and pay on time. In my heart, I can think of a few jobs I wouldn't take. Neo Nazi, White supremacist or other hate related material would be one example. When my work gets recognition, I am not so much surprised as I am pleased. I know my work is good. My clients know my work is good, especially my regular customers. The checks they send me are plenty thanks enough, but sometimes, I get a call from a client that was especially pleased. That always feels good. Mood? My mood doesn't play into it. I'd BETTER be in the mood or I don't get paid. That may be one of the major differences between a professional and an amateur. Does a professional basketball player have to be in the mood to play? Does a stockbroker need to be in the mood to show up for work? Does a doctor wait for the mood to be right in order to heal the sick? An artist's inspiration comes from the entire world around him. That includes inspiration from all previous artwork created. Most of us have studied Art History as part of our training. Galleries? I don' need yer stinkin' galleries. Getting PAID to create for others is a great way to afford to create for myslef. My favorite thing is creating fantasy and science fiction artwork. But the market for this is extremely limited. But, the great thing is, that as long as I'm not creating for a client, I can take my artwork in ANY direction I feel like. THIS is exhilarating. Thanks for the question. That was fun. I'll click a star for you!

1. As much as I can, usually only 1-2 hours a day. 2. For an average size drawing, 3-4 weeks. 3. I am very good at charcoal, not too bad at colored pencil. I've never painted so I'm probably not very good at that. 4. Usually as far as the face. If the face turns out well, I get excited about continuing. 5. I have had to restart drawings before. I was not angry with myself, I just took it as a learning experience and started over. 6. No. 7. Yes. 8. Yes. There's one drawing I did that I really dislike but I posted it online anyway. It gets more views than most of my favorite drawings. 9. To have a few minutes to myself. And a good trip to the zoo with my camera will have me going for months. 10. If it helps you find your own style. 11. I'm not a people-person, and I hate schmoozing. I also sometimes find that the jurors of the art shows have a set style in mind when they look at the artwork. 12. I can set my own hours, and I can draw whatever I want (and it relaxes me).