Working out of your house can be tough – especially if you have a demanding family with little or no respect for your need to be drawing comics all the time. In this episode I offer some tips how to make it work, and some ideas how to get out of the house if it doesn’t.
Related post: What if I can’t afford a studio space?
Hello Palle,
What about the “night birds” vs diurnal types of people, approach? Calmness of night versus the energy of the day. What’s your experiences regarding that matter in general? We might elaborate on cons and pros for the both, do you have your personal favorite time for working on comics and you keep it fixed and comply, or you allowing it to varies from time to time?
Thanks.
H
Hi Haris, you’re right! I used to be much more of a night owl, but that changed when my first daughter was born. Not to blame my kids. I know a Danish musician who works all night and let’s his wife take the kids in the morning so he can sleep in. However tempting that sounds, it wouldn’t work for me. I have duties that can only be dealt with during the day and I’m too tired to get any work done at night. And then there’s the whole idea of sunlight as a way to avoid depression! Being holed up all day and working all night is not for everyone..
I think you have to find the time of day when you’re most productive and see if you can salvage some of that time for your comics. Sometimes you have to roll with the punches and make the best of whatever little time you have!
Thanks for reply Palle.
Than for me, it would be the early morning. As most “creatively pumped” period of the day, especially for nice sunny ones.
Trouble is, in it’s shortage. It last just a few hours at the best, until all other distracting “daily city noises” starts to interfere 🙂 No matter how far you are from the city centre, even in suburbia as where I am at the moment, it’s just to much overall people’s activity around the house to not be distracted by.
So for now, even with all it’s bad sides as general exhaustion, I just must, remain nocturnal 😉
Mostly.
H
thanks for covering this topic , this is tricky territory. Play it wrong, and your loved ones will have a bad taste in their mouth about your project… the diplomacy of Jean Luke Picard will be required.
That said, when negotiating home time to work on my projects (I am married but without kids), i found a few things worked really well. Do the people you are negotiating time with also have things that they want to do that don’t involve you? This is a perfect time for them to engage with those pursutes. And if they see you taking a stab at a dream like becoming a comics creator, maybe they will also find the bravery to start a self driven project. Then you are really set, because they will start looking for time to work also! Then the only problem is which one of you are going to tear themselves away to cook dinner! On that point, both of you are. Breaks are a great idea and no one gets jealous.
Last thought: i have a friend who does have kids, and she uses my wife and i’s studio at home every Sunday to do her art in. She hasn’t had so much time to work since she was a single girl at college! It really seems to work for her, so great advice there.