Tackling Art Distractions: Pomodoro Technique

When first starting out with art, it can be pretty tough to focus on it for long periods of time. And when you look over at artists streaming their work for hours on end, you wonder what you’re doing wrong. How can you fix it? Does it need to be fixed?

When I first started to learn to draw, some days I could draw for an hour at a time, but more often I would find myself drawing something for just 15 minutes and then getting distracted or needing a break. Years later I’ve gotten a lot better at that, and find myself drawing for pretty long periods, as long as I want to. But in the beginning, it was definitely a struggle, because I didn’t entirely know what I was doing, nor was it very exciting to fight through the bad art that I had to make to get better. I needed something to help with that.

There’s a strategy that’s been around for a while, popular for accomplishing work and daily tasks, called the Pomodoro technique. The idea is simple: set a timer to work, and then a timer to take a break. The most popular approach looks like this: Put your distractions away and get your drawing supplies out. Set a 25 minute timer and draw. When that’s up, set a 5 minute timer to take a break. When that’s done, another 25 minutes, then 5 minutes break, and so on. You do four of those cycles, then you’ve earned a 20 minute break.

A lot of folks like myself that struggle with distractions find this an exciting idea in theory, but getting down to it has mixed results. So my suggestion, if you haven’t tried this before, is to start with shorter intervals, like 10 minutes drawing, 3 minutes break, and repeat 2-3 times. Try as hard as you can to stick with it, and force yourself to take breaks right when the timer goes off. Obeying the schedule you set helps build a habit.

When you’re drawing, this timer serves multiple purposes. At the start, you go in knowing that you only have a fixed time that you “have” to draw, with a small break as a reward. Even if you want to draw in the moment, sometimes it’s more effective to give yourself a limit. The break timers are a gentle reminder to get back to it. And if you’re really focused, the timers are there to remind you that you need to take a break. You might not want to because you’re in the middle of something: it’s OK to wrap things up, but try not to totally skip breaks or push back them too often. Otherwise you’ll start to disregard the schedule of the Pomodoro that kept you going in the first place!

In your first drawing interval of 25 minutes, or 10 minutes, or whatever you choose, you can spend the time warming up or doing a short study. This will get you into the right kind of state to keep drawing, and a break of a few minutes isn’t going to ruin your warm-up effort. In your break time, stand up, stretch, walk around a bit, hydrate, and all that – don’t sit at your desk and start browsing social media. You need to give your body a break as well as your mind.

There are tons of fancy apps out there for this, but you don’t need anything crazy: just a long timer and a short timer. You might even want a physical timer you can set to keep your phone and its distractions away. A wind-up timer can be fun to use for this, but any simple kitchen timer will do. I use pomodoro in my day job, and when I’m working on art. I’m even using it right now as I make this video, and it helps me– ring ring (ope, break time, be right back)

If you’ve tried this before and it didn’t work, give it another shot and try adjusting the time intervals to fit you. If you’re new to this, see how it works for you for a few days, and make changes as you need. Go grab a timer, your sketchbook, and try some art today!