So how long does an artistic piece really take?

So I have been wondering exactly how long making a piece of art takes from concept to beginning to end and thought I would keep track with my latest creation.

Here is the breakdown with my thoughts on how long it usually takes.

Design and Concept

This involves mostly brain work.  I will research a particular time period, design, look at a several exemplars until I find the one that I like.  I will then print out copies of the exemplars and tape them to my mirror.  On the recent assignment it only took 2 hours because 1) I had an idea in mind of what I wanted to do ahead of time and was waiting for the right assignment 2) If it is a style that I have done already, I have saved my work in Diigo, or in the bookmarks which makes this much easier.

Recent assignment :  2 hours               My best guess of usual time:  2-3 hours, sometimes more

Pre-painting

This is choosing the paint colors, preparing the paint (if I am using dried pigment) and doing some trial painting on a sample sheet.  That is when I can compare the colors together, make sure that the colors tested on the sheet match the color on the exemplar and make some color tweaks.

Recent assignment:  2 hours              Usual time:  2 hours is about right

Layout

This is what it says.  The layout.  I will sometimes tweak the layout during the process.  Okay, who am I kidding, I always tweak the layout because I am listening to what the project tells me what to do.  But planning out where the elements are going to go - such as an award graphic, portrait, color balance, is important.  Also, where the calligraphy is going to go verses the illumination is very important as is deciding if there will be gold, where it will be, and assigning where the colors will be.

Recent assignment:  2 hours               Usual time:  sounds about right

Calligraphy

Calligraphy goes first.  So there is the practice sheet, then the final project.  Sometimes there are a couple of practice sheets.

Recent assignment:  2 hours            Usual time:  2 - 4 hours depending on length and difficulty

Portrait/Badge

In the recent assignment I did, I chose to include a portrait, and also the badge.  Portraits can take anywhere from 1 hour for a simple pen and ink, to 2 to three hours for a painted portrait.   I owe some of my pre-painting time to the fact that this only took me two hours for both the portrait and badge and it was a familiar badge.

Recent assignment:  2 hours        Usual time:  2-5 hours depending on medium

Illumination

The recent assignment had leafy and vine, and changed colors from gold to ochre to green.   I worked fairly fast in short bursts of speed for a quicky evening and then one long sitting.

Recent assignment:  4 hours      Usual time:  4-6 hours depending upon complexity

Details

The devil is in the details.  Once I have laid all the illumination down, I let the art rest.  This means walking away for at least 24 hours and then coming back.  I will then put it about 5 feet away from me, turn it upside down and look at the balance of the picture.  Does the artwork flow, does it have things that catch the eye and make it travel to different points of the picture.  Is there dead space.  I then will do any detail work that will balance the art.  This is a difficult stage because sometimes you can overwork a piece of art so at some point you have to say - nope, not going to do another thing.

Recent assignment:  1 hour            Usual time 1-2 hours

Packaging

This is the secretarial aspect of the job.  Rewrite the cut sheet, making sure the references, bibliography is there, taking pictures of the final product, including instructions if needed, packaging up the art to travel to an event and making sure it has a ride.  With this one, I have to bring it to the royals for a special signature so there was making sure I had a little pot of white ink, some practice sheets for the royals and putting the whole thing in a box.

Recent assignment:  1 hour          Usual time 1 hour sounds right

And the Total time is ....... 16 hours for the last piece I did.  If I go with what I think the longest, it would be is 23 hours.