If you enjoy making art and want to form a consistent habit of it, I made a Daily Art Log that you can download today. I’ve been using this tool over here, and find that it’s a fun and helpful way to track progress and boost to my daily art practice. If you’re in the same boat, I imagine it can help you stay focused and consistent with your artistic projects and goals, too.
Art making fuels ideas, balances the soul, engages our senses, acts as a therapeutic outlet, and nurtures our creativity.
However, staying consistent and keeping creating an art habit may be a challenge. For making art a regular habit, a creativity log or art tracker can keep us consistent on our creative journey.
The Art Tracker serves as a spot to document progress for our creative projects, and also acts as an accountability partner. By documenting our daily progress, we can lean on this motivation tool to keep us connected to our artistic commitments, even when inspiration, ideas, and enthusiasm for making are hard to find.
For more on habit-building, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, has a lot of great stuff to say about building good habits and this book is one of my favorites. If you’re curious about his approach, read his Habits Guide here.
Why Keep a Daily Art Tracker?
Celebrate Small Wins: Every day that you engage in your art, no matter how small the effort, is a victory worth celebrating. Your creativity log is a testament to these daily achievements. I’m only four days in, and look forward to filling in all these circles as the year progresses.
Capture Your Progress: We may be so immersed in the process of creating that we fail to see how far we’ve come. A creativity log helps track progress, reminding you of all the hard work you’ve completing and how far you’ve come. It’s not about the final works of art, it’s about the journey to get there.
Encourages Perseverance: An art tracker serves as a visual reminder of your progress and commitment. On days when motivation is low, seeing the accumulation of your efforts can be a powerful incentive to keep going.
Simplifies the Commitment: Keeping an art tracker reminds us that keeping up our creative practice doesn’t require hours of uninterrupted time. Just 10 minutes a day is enough. This realization, reinforced every time you log your activity, demystifies the process of art-making. It highlights that consistent and small daily efforts are just as valuable as longer, sporadic sessions, making the practice more approachable and manageable in our busy lives. I’ve given myself 20 minutes a day to make something. It may be more on some days, but I feel like a 20 minute commitment is achievable.
How to Get Started with Your Art Tracker
- Choose Your Medium: Your art can be a physical notebook like an art journal, a digital app, camera, yarn, etc. The key is to choose a medium that feels natural and accessible to you. The medium can change each day, but start with having something in mind. If you’re interested in Art Journaling, check out these Art Journal Exercises for Self-care and Creativity. I’m starting with an art journal and will also likely use an iPad, camera, and loose watercolor paper. As the year progresses this could evolve into something else. I’m open to that!
- Make It a Habit: Set aside a few minutes each day to make your art or update your journal. I’m trying to make my time the morning before breakfast or after my kids get to school.
- Be Honest and Authentic: Your journal is a judgment-free zone. It’s a place for honest reflection, doodles, frustrations, and joys. The more authentic you are, the more valuable your journal will be to you.
- Include Visuals: Collect things from your days. Include quotes, sketches, receipts, photos of your artwork, or even scraps of materials from other artworks. These visuals reflect what you notice and what you’re curious about, and create a rich tapestry of your creative life.
- Review Regularly: Every so often, take time to review your art. You’ll be amazed at the patterns, growth, and insights that emerge. In just one year you will have come so far!
Get the Daily Art Tracker!
The download includes four different versions so you can choose the one that works best for you: Creativity Tracker, Art-making Tracker, Creative Journey Log, and Art Journal Log.
