The problem
Studying art is a difficult thing. I should know; I
have been endeavoring it for over 20 years. Some of the reasons it is so
difficult are:
- -art is hardly a closed and clear area of study. Just defining what art is gives nearly everyone a headache. Which objects fall into the category art is harder still, and what is relevant to your studies is just about up to yourself. With visual art as study, you could even argue that watching TV or playing a game is study.
- -because our area of study is so broad, it can become hard to know when we are studying, and when we are procrastinating; engaging in activities that contribute little to none to our advancement.
- -there are so many fields and area of study it is hard to take an overview of them, let alone master all. Added to that, nearly everyone states that his/her area of expertise is the key to master all.
- -many forms of art study need you to study in ways that are not taught in school.
- -as most art-books will not fit your personal situation, a lot of time can be spent figuring out what to study and from where.
Through the years I have been racking my brain on
these issues, trying to find what to study to improve time and again. It seemed
however the things I needed to do quickly mounted and I got quite frustrated
with my lack of progress. Added to that the fact that studying 5-6 different
fields at once usually only served to confuse me.
My solution
Recently, I followed a
course in Agile Scrum and got excited at the work-method. I wanted to try it;
right away. Yet, as I am an independent creative running just a one-man
company, chances at working in a team are limited.
However, self-study and
self-improvement are subjects that are at hand on a daily basis. It occurred to
me, with a little tweaking, Scrum would be perfect for studying art.
Why? Because:
- -Scrum does not need for the end-result to be completely defined; simply a rough idea of where you want to go is enough.
- -Scrum gets rid or minimizes activities that distract you from your goals.
- -Scrum gives you fast results and the chance to change your goals based on those results it also gives you the chance to study what you feel is important or interesting at that moment in time.
- -Scrum, when implemented right, gives you the chance to figure out what and how to study at the moment it becomes relevant.
- -Scrum requires little documentation and planning activities; and what little it does require is easily converted to a log that can be re-read when our memory fails us and our gained knowledge has become vague.
Scrum encourages focusing
on one subject and then moving onto a next. While the classical way of learning
has us switch between many subjects on a daily basis, this does not strike me
as a natural way of learning at all. Studies have shown a person working on
multiple project loses a lot of time switching from one project to another.
Would it not be doubly so when using ones memory and storing information in
your own mind is concerned? Taking one subject and concentrating on that while
ignoring the rest is a technique I see used by even my own young kids - with
great results. Only once a subject is mastered do they turn to the next subject
and make that their ‘obsession’.
The danger in employing a
method of ‘studying whatever you feel is right’, is that you lose track of
where you are going. Yet Scrum has periodic checkpoints built in where you
check your course and can adjust it if needed. Basically, you get to obsess as
much as you like, then have to get your head back above water at set times to
see where you are going.
How is it done?
What exactly Scrum is and
how I have adopted it for study I will explain in a later article.
Right now, I will give just
a very short summary of how I work:
- -I keep a ‘product backlog’ stating my long-term goals.
- -every 2 weeks, I start a new project.
- -on the first day of that project, I will pick the most important items from my product backlog.
- -every goal is split into parts, with none of the parts exceeding in my estimate more than a day’s work.
- -every day I write a short ‘log’, documenting what I have done the previous day, and what I am about to do. If I run into problems or find I need additional work to reach my goal(s) I will state them here also. These new items will either be added to the backlog, or traded with other items to be included in the current project.
- -as a part of reviewing the project’s effect I will add write a blog-post about my project in my ‘advance in art’ blog.
- -as a part of reviewing to project’s process, I will write an article here which should contain new insights into my method.
- -a new project will usually start right away.
I’m hoping my method of study is useful and inspiring
to you as a reader. I think it could be of great use to people studying art,
but in other fields as well. I would be happy to answer any questions.
