Hi Siqi! I too am a very busy "real job with family" person who is struggling to find time to do art projects. At this point I'd probably say that I am an amateur illustrator who does project management for money. Currently I spend 30 min. to an hour on my lunch break doing art, at least 3-4 times per week. That may not seem like much but I am not an evening person and I have struggled immensely to do any personal projects after work, and the early morning is taken up with exercise and meditation. I could try to get up even earlier, but that would mean that I don't spend time with my partner in the evenings. I make up for it by trying to get the most out of every time I do art. I plan out at the start of the week what projects I want to be doing (is it a master study, is it a still life? At least 2 days developing one of my illustration projects, etc.). I also find that I need to take a real break from studying and projects every 4-6 weeks, otherwise I risk burning out from all the stress I place on myself. In short, I hear you on the struggles of developing your craft with limited amounts of time. I feel that it's worth it though, we're all in it together :)

I was also one of those kids who grew up drawing all the time, but I grew in a small town and didn't realize what opportunities were actually out there for artists. I ended up going into graphic design and am now a web developer. I am currently trying to find time to start studying art more seriously, but consistency has proven difficult between spending time with family, work, and exercising. I've had some success with scheduling time, but lately the toddler changes his schedule almost on a weekly basis. I pretty much have to commit to waking up super early or staying up pretty late. I'm still struggling to find the answer, but hoping to get back on track soon.

@Martijn Punt @Olga Bruser @Moonless_Sky @Uku Kivisild @Alberto Grubessi @Konstantinos Christofi @Yiming Wu @Gannon Beck (and anyone reading who may be interested) If anyone is interested in a small group chat to provide some support, motivation, and accountability, please let me know! :)

I ended up opting for the non-art related career myself, many years ago, having majored in Interactive Multimedia, and getting hired after graduation as a game programmer at a studio that made educational software for toddlers. It was around the same time I got hired, or even a little before, that I firmly decided I wanted to pursue a career in art (which had been a hobby of mine for the previous decade). It's not that I don't enjoy programming - it's just that I figured I'd rather do game development for my own projects, for fun, and I'd be happier doing concept art and illustration for clients. I worked full-time - so 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I would definitely consider it to be cognitively taxing, but I did find that if I pushed myself, I had different pools of energy to draw from. After work, I sure as hell wouldn't want to push myself to do more programming at home, but while it felt difficult at first, I was able to coax myself into putting time into my art. Granted, it helped that I didn't have any other responsibilities - I lived with my parents, so while I helped them with chores in the weekends, I didn't have to cook dinner each night and had a fair bit of free time. I started making a habit of spending at least 3 hours each night on taking my art more seriously. First, I set a challenge for myself, where every night I'd do a photo study - a minimum of 3 hours had to be invested, and a minimum of 1 study. So if I happened to be satisfied with a study before that time was up, I would start another. If I got into the groove and wanted to go loner than 3 hours, I could, but of course I still had work the next day. I did this for 31 days straight, including weekends. Setting that end date helped, because I could see the finish line. It wasn't an arbitrary endeavor, so even if it was tough, I was able to push my limits knowing that it wouldn't be forever. I feel this had a pretty significant impact on me - it showed me I had it in me to pull from this separate well of energy, and that a lot of the time it could even help me unwind after work, even though I was trying to learn and train. After that, it was easier to invest that time in a wider array of exercises, in tackling illustrations that would be spread across several days and weeks, and to generally push beyond the limitations of a salary man. After about 15 months of this, I quit my job, took my savings and funded a 6 month trip to LA to study at Concept Design Academy. The rest is, as they say, history.

Hi Siqi I work in the field and I feel the same way (kinda) I still need to work on my fundamentals and I have some personal projects I want to do but it's very time consuming after work I create art for slot games and it's very cool and looks more like casual gaming but I want to take a shot at a more realistic fantasy art. I just realized not too long ago, that I'm in this job for over 4 years, I improved a lot in cartoon and stylized art but not really at what I'd like to do so now I struggle with time management for personal work. I think there's no easy solution but to have specific time in a week you know you can sit down without any distraction and work for yourself. I know about myself that if I was more disciplined, I could have improved 3 times more faster... and now I need to analyze what things can I sacrifice in a day so I could have more time for my art. It's also hard to balance it with life and not to burn out. I don't get stressed as much as I used to so I'm able to enjoy other things without feeling guilty but I sure do have to work on scheduling and having a proper deadline. I know people usually rush to the result and want to able to produce art as fast as possible (I did... ) but we shouldn't skip steps and it's better to take the time to do things properly. Good luck to us all Just keep learning, creating and focus on the present. Enjoy the journey and you'll get there eventually, It takes a lot of patience and remember to have fun! if it isn't fun, what's the point right?

Hi @Siqi, I love drawing and art and I also have a job unrelated to art, plus I have kids and general adult stuff I have to take care of on a daily basis. This leaves me with less time for art than I would like to have. One of the things that helped me the most to gain time is to always carry a sketchbook, I use this a lot when I'm waiting somewhere (for example when I bring my kids to sport practice), or during lunch at work. Most of my drawings are made in this way to be honest and I usually manage to draw each day. I also notice that it takes me about 5 minutes to get into the drawing zone. Sometimes I feel tired/reluctant to start, but I never regret it afterward. Don't stress/push yourself in the beginning, it doesn't have to be good, you don't have to show it to other people, you don't have to draw for hours. You will get into a habit of drawing over time and you will spend more time drawing as you progress, and now I get nervous when I don't draw for a couple of days. Another thing I did was to go weekly for a 3 hour drawing/painting class at an atelier, that's my time that's booked in advance and is non-negotiable. For me it was helpful to have this external thing to have a teacher motivate you, rather than it only being your own motivation that is driving you. Most importantly try to have fun!

Hi Siqi, I feel the same as a lot of people here and have found that trying to do too much has given me 'time anxiety' where I see every minute I am not doing something as being wasted. I got serious with my art practice in January and since then trying to fit it into my 55 hour work week (food industry) resulted in me spending all my free time drawing or thinking about drawing. I would recommend try to catch yourself early if you start worrying about every minute going by and just try to enjoy the learning process without too much thinking about whether you are doing enough. Also, I feel I am better at giving this advice than listening to it because it has been a struggle to deal with the stress but find what works for you. In terms of art goals, I also think since your practice time is limited, the best thing to do is establish what you most enjoy about art and other artists and what you want to do with it... You won't be able to learn everything because you'll likely become meh at all of it rather than really good at the one thing you actually enjoy. Again that is easier said than done, I still want to do everything perfectly but I am going to just accept I am not going to have time to draw perfect city scenery in perspective because my focus is faces and figures. I am not going to learn concept art because I just want to draw for fun not for a living..etc. Once you figure out a goal it will hopefully be easier to make big steps towards them without getting distracted by everything else around you, which will in turn save you probably years in the long run. Sorry to ramble, hope it makes sense and don't get time anxiety like me!

Hi Siqi, i'm very much in the same position as you. Right now i'm in my final year at university studing Management and i started drawing seriousy during my first year, indeed it is a struggle to work/study and draw and to balance everything is very difficult but there are some things that can help. First of all, try to find a time period where you are not as tired in my case for example i go to sleep around 10/11 pm and wake up at 6:30 am so that i can draw about 1-2 hours everyday, but before covid i used to wake up at 5:30 am so that i could go to classes comfortably. Also a big advice is DO NOT sit back on the couch, the moment you sit on the couch you lost because is so comfortable that you will need a strong will to stand up and go to draw. With time you will learn what is suitable with your lifestyle, so don't give up and continue to draw, when it becomes an habit it's easier

Hello Siqi!!! I am a doctor from Cyprus, studying in Greece in my first year of medical residency, second year of training after medical school overall. i started drawing as an amateur in my final year of medical school and it was indeed hard to find the time and energy, but the emotional reward was indeed something else. A few years later its the same story. Long working hours, lack of sleep, studying of other subjects can indeed take their toll. That being said I do love drawing very much so one way or another I am gradually building a system in order to be able to keep drawing and even improving over time. I am glad to see that there are other people in the same boat.

I'm now a graduate student... Yeah things gets busy but I guess I'm in a better position than when I have to go to work in a job. It's hard to find time to do art that requires a long duration to finish :/

It's tough. It's especially tough to do art at the end of the day when you're tired. What I did was I started getting up early and doing art before work. To make sure I got out of bed, I scheduled time with a friend. It helps to have the extra incentive of knowing someone else is going to show up to get my butt in gear. We do it three times a week during the work week and once on the weekend in the evening. We meet online two hours before I start my day job. We've been doing it for almost two years and it works. We started with two of us, but we've since had two other artists that have been joining us regularly. Sometimes I get to work on my own projects in the evening, but if I'm not up for it, I know I have time set aside.

Hi Siqi! You nailed the daily struggle of a want-to-be-artist :D I'm in the same boat. Extra working hours make it very difficult to keep up art while still doing sports, cleaning, keeping track of the garden... Life sometimes is overwhelming xD I do not know your daily routine but I did one thing that brought me a lot of time: I got rid of my TV. In the beginning it was very awkward to not have one. But now I do not have a TV for 8 years and I don't miss him :D It's so tempting to just throw yourself on the sofa but this does not make happy. Also I started to keep an eye for the hours I use my Smartphone. I try to use it less than an hour per day. This is important, because our brain needs time to rest and recover from all the impulses and superimposing informations you get all day long. When you do this you will feel very bored which is an unpleasent feeling. But that's when creativity starts to hit you :) Getting bored it very necessary for our brain. So I take my time to get bored :D Meditation helps to boost creativitiy too and helps to refill your batteries after a long day (no joke, it's scientifically proven that meditation has a lot of positive effects on our health). With all these measures I can provide to not loose track of my needs. And since creating is a basic need a human has, it really helps to give this impulse the room necessary for it's growth :)