Last year, when creating our S.M.A.R.T. goals, I described them as, "terrifying." I thought that they were just something you set to make yourself feel better or just to say that you did. To say the least, my relationship with goal setting is a bit different now. After a school year of missing deadlines, making new ones, and writing a lot of blog posts, I've come to like making goals for myself. Although it took some time, I eventually met both of my S.M.A.R.T. goals last year. My academic goal was to improve how I present my art online. I didn't truly meet this goal until August, after giving my website a total makeover and starting a YouTube channel. My personal goal was to have forty designs in my Redbubble shop. I didn't meet this goal in time either, but I eventually did meet it, and I learned a lot along the way. All of this said, I'm excited to create my S.M.A.R.T. goals this year.
My goal for the V.A.M. Academy this semester is to improve my animated style. I've recently started drawing in my personal sketchbook again. Inspired by the many graphic novels I read over the summer, I decided to do a thirty-day challenge, using cartoon styles for each drawing. I've seen so much improvement already from doing this challenge, that I'm going to achieve this goal by doing something similar. I'll do a cartoon drawing of a person or animal each day, for five days a week. These drawings may be in my personal sketchbook or my school sketchbook, depending on when and where I have the availability to draw. Even if I can't complete this goal to the standard I expected, there is no doubt that even just attempting to complete this goal will improve my drawing skills. Not only will I be forced to get creative with references and come up with new ways to draw backgrounds, I'll also learn how to draw accurate anatomy, unique facial features, and keep a consistent style, which will translate to realism. When completed on January 31, 2019, I will have developed skills that I'll carry into the next semester and even further. The personal goal I plan to complete this semester is to procrastinate less. It's a common goal, but an important one nonetheless. I have a tendency to calculate exactly how long I can put something off for, then proceed to put it off for exactly that long, if not longer. This is a habit I tried to quit last year and it proved very possible. I had an agenda that I kept every day, writing down due dates, event times and checklists. It was very successful at keeping me on track until about April when I stopped having time to keep the agenda going daily. I have a solution to this, which will be how I achieve this goal. Google Drive now has three widgets on the side of any document: "Tasks," "Calendar," and, "Keep." "Tasks," is a checklist widget, where I can make a to-do list and check off completed activities. "Keep," is for taking notes, which I've already been using in certain classes and, "Calendar," is self-explanatory. I specifically plan to use the checklist and calendar, as, used together, they act similarly to the agenda I had last year. The crucial difference is the accessibility of using Google widgets, rather than a physical agenda. I use Google Drive daily, whether it's a document, drawing or slideshow. Rather than having to set apart time to fill out a physical agenda, I'll have my scheduled activities and due dates in front of me as I'm working, and will even be warned as a due date is approaching. This kind of visual resource will help to keep me on track, as I'll always know what my workload looks like and how much time I have for a given assignment. I'll also be motivated by the checklist, out of the simple satisfaction I get from checking things off of a list once it's complete. I will check and update my tasks and calendar daily until the deadline on January 31, 2019. I'm hoping that achieving this goal will help me long-term with scheduling and time-management. Less terrifying than they seem, goals are necessary parts of life, on a small scale or a large scale. We set them for ourselves and achieve or fail them every day without even realizing. I believe that any change is a good change when it comes to goals because it shows you what works. I know that working towards these goals will bring obstacles my way, but I also know that getting past them or getting defeated by them will teach me something about myself, one way or another. For those reasons, I'm ready to start achieving my specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound goals.
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About this blogOn this blog page I'll be posting about my progress in achieving art goals, and how I'm learning new things and improving as an artist. Archives
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AuthorLeah is an eighteen-year-old aspiring Canadian artist who enjoys drawing, painting, and photography. |