What is the best tool for artists to get better?

The timer.

The timer gives a deadline. It lets you know that now is the time to start. It lets you know how much time you have left. It gives you a chance to stop and evaluate the completeness or incompleteness of your work. Like practicing music with a metronome, it helps provide a rhythm.

One reason that art classes can help artists produce more work than they otherwise would is that they usually include timed sessions for producing work. As an artist it can be impossible to know when a work, or a project is done, but if you are practicing with a timer, you know.

Sometimes you might not feel that you are ever done with what you are working on, and sometimes you know that you need a few more minutes. In either case, using a timer can help you decide whether to push through and finish after the timer is up or whether to move on and learn from what you have created.

Artists struggle with time management because often the scope of their tasks are not defined from the outset.

You don’t have to use a timer for all of your projects, or maybe you can use it as a crutch to get you started.

It also doesn’t have to be a real timer. It can be any situation where you know you have a limited amount of time.

One area where can be particularly helpful is actually knowing how much time a certain project will take. If you never time yourself, you might have no idea. Artists who do commissions often have to estimate for themselves how long it will take to complete a project. Although I would advise against using hourly rates, knowing how long something will take can help you know how much you should charge or whether you even have time to fit a project in

If you use a timer every day in your art practice, you might get better a lot faster than you expect.

Do you know a better tool for artists to get better? Let me know in the comments.