Happy new year everyone! I hope you had a good year! I started doing audits of my life in 2024. Doing this makes me more accountable and show me the truth. No matter who you say your priorities are, you can’t deny data! I’ts been humbling and eye opening. I don’t have crazy goals this year because i’m already doing things I need to be doing, i will be refining and optimizing though! I got new data to work with and I’m pretty exited about it!
I tracked ALL my drawing hours in 2025
Yup. You read this right. I did write ‘all’ my drawing hours. Even times I only drew a rushed shitty 7 minutes that I threw in the recycling. Bad art counts. All art count. I’m not gonna pretend it’s 100% accurate because life happens and I wasn’t holding a timer but I paid close attention at the time I started and ended each sessions. Also when I drew on ipad, the app procreate keeps track for you.
I aimed for 30 minutes a day minimum. A little context for people who don’t know me. I am in my mid 30s, I work full time and got 2 kids still in daycare. Art is not my career, it is my hobby with benefits. Healthy living is in my top priorities as well so I have a non negotiable of 30 minutes of daily walking + I try to workout 3 times a week at least.
I did not draw every day. but i tried to stay consistent. On weekends I was able to put more time so it compensated because I calculated 209 hours in total. 209/365 days equals 0.57. So on average I did draw my 30 daily minutes and even a little extra!
I experimented with different times to draw. Often it was just before or after putting my kids to bed so I was already pretty tired and sometimes that made me skip a day. I tried in the morning but my boyfriend is already very nice to let me go walk and/or workout during the chaotic morning rush so I don’t want to put too much on him. I thought about getting up even earlier, maybe at 5 instead of my usual 6h40-7h00 AM but oooofff… I don’t do well without my 8 hours of sleep. I am lucky to work from home so I thought about drawing during my lunch break, but it is mostly used for my workouts or.. I’ll be honest, taking naps lol. I looooove napping. I’m a low energy person who’s trying to do a lot of things.
So it’s been mostly in the evening and multiples hours during the weekend.
I mostly did free drawing in my sketchbook. Random studies, some targeted practices and comfort zone portraits. I just wanted to keep the habit going. I struggled to motivate myself to create art for merch. I did only 9 merch design in 2025. I think it was hard because i did not have a system in place that was effective. I was just winging it. Which is hard to do when you’re always tired at the end of the day. I always chose random sketching before bed over working on merch. I would tell myself next weekend but often skipped it or was just too busy.
(I still think my Gollum just below is very funny lol.)
2025's tracking plan
I’m continuing to track my hours but now I’m also adding a new system. Everyday I have to draw for 30 minutes something related to future merch (for my etsy and/or Conventions). So if i want some free drawing I’ll have to draw more than 30 minutes. It does not matter if I end up scrapping an idea or not using one. What matters is keeping the habit and making small steps towards my goals everyday. 30 minutes a day is 15 hours a month (if 30 days). Most of my designs, unless it’s a big projects, take me under 5 hours. It’s potentially 3 news designs a month, 36 a year. This little 30 minutes a day can take me far.
Failing to plan is planning to fail
I became a tracking nerd. I love my stats lol. I kept my Duolingo streak going all year as well and even made a page for it because it makes me happy and proud!
I could write for hours but It’s time to say goodbye for today! I’m gonna listen my own advices and start a fixed schedule for this blog so can keep showing up consistently.
Happy new year again!!!
So inspiring! Keep it up, I’m proud of you!