How to do good work on a tight deadline

Are there any short cuts?

Nope, Im not talking about bacon- at least not this time…

And YES there are some short cuts, but they are mainly only available after a lot of prep work.

Put in the hours whenever you can, so that we when you have a tight deadline you have all of your tools ready.

So, what are they?

Set a time limit for research

If you are like me, research (generally a google image search) can take me down a rabbit hole and end up being hours of liking instagram posts. I like to set a timer and just collect images that inspire me or that I can use for reference. When time is up, I get on with drawing.

Be decisive

There isn’t time to try out many options. Go with your gut when choosing a subject, composition and colours.

Go to your sketchbook

Go through your sketch book and reuse drawings that are relevant.

Here is where lots of prep work pays - off. I recommend 20 minutes of sketching every day. Draw, draw and draw some more, so that you can go to your sketch book when you need a reference.

(More on this in another newsletter.)

Have your process down pat

Having a method makes drawing anything a lot quicker. In short, my process goes something like this: sketch—> line work—> flat colour —> shade/blend —> highlight.

Knowing that this is the process that I am going to follow means that I have a way to tackle any illustration.

(More of this in another newsletter)

Take full advantage of digital “tricks”

And for those that illustrate digitally, there are lots of tricks you can use such as ‘copy and paste’, ‘colour drop’, ‘cutting shapes’. This is another place where you need to do the prep work and spend time getting to know how to use the programs you use to create illustrations.

So stop reading, subscribe and then go and draw!