10 Artists Who Plan | Bullet Journaling for Artists

Hello, Kim here!

I’m on a mission to get good at art and am looking for a way to keep track of my progress, time spent, and completed projects. I can't be the only one! If you're curious, you can see my progression over time over on Instagram (@kiminjoyland).

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you my research on what some admirable working artists have been doing and how they keep track of balancing their tasks and art-making (especially with monthly and weekly planning). During my search, I came across many beautiful and artistic bullet journals, but I was looking more for working artists or art students who plan.

Below I’ve included ten artists who've shared their tips and BuJo spreads. They’re all on YouTube so I’ve included the timestamps of when they were talking about specifics that I found interesting. I did try to find blog posts on planning by artists as well. Unfortunately, there weren’t very many, but a really good source is EvyDraws. She has an entire part of her website dedicated to bullet journaling.

If you have any other tips or sources of inspiration, please send them my way! I’ll try out some of these ideas over the next few weeks in my current bullet journal. Let me know if you’d like to see an update!

Happy D. Artist

5:07 Monthly Painting Tracker where she draws rectangles relative to the size of the painting and fills them in as they progress to completion (which she says is really rewarding!). She includes deadlines and task due dates for each painting.

10:01 Instead of having Monthly Goals List, divide them into Weekly Goals so that each week you focus on specific goals.

14:22 Brainstorm Section – Force self to jot down ideas every day to keep up creative energy.

Minnie Small

3:10 Places around the world she’s delivered to - It’s basically a log of where here art has found a home!

3:50 Project Page List – More detailed project pages are in the back of the book.

Amie Howard Art

4:50 Video Plan and Tutorial Plan - What videos need to be made and when they need to be out by. She’ll sit down at the beginning of the month and plan out everything that needs to be done, and then schedule out tasks that need to be done.

6:57 Sales and Marketing Plan – Small sales plan for that month and any marketing. Things that will be released, Target sales, and how much to market to reach that goal

Nicole’s Journal

5:08 Editorial Calendar – She schedules her YouTube Videos and Instagram Posts on Post-It Notes for easy rescheduling. Once something is actually posted, she’ll take off the sticky note and write it down.

Overall Adventures

4:26 YouTube Planner – She pre-plans two months in advance and lists what’s actually posted as well as ideas.

6:17 Sparkly Moments – Tracking everyday magical moments (similar to a gratitude tracker).

LittleSqueesh

4:52 – Her Goals page is a combination of personal and art goals. The next collection is Projects, which are also all art related.

Alice Le

1:01 She has a YouTube Video Schedule/Ideas and Etsy spread every month.

1:20 Art Brainstorm Page – Inspiration for her artwork. At  12:06 in her setup for April, she included sections for Art Show dates and Thumbnails.

Jennifer Charlee Art

9:49 Ideal Daily and Weekly Schedule – Includes things like livestreaming, working at coffee shops and taking breaks.

Kara Linkonis

18:41 Purchased Item Tracker – She uses this to track what items sell the most.

Artist Explores The World (No longer does Plan With Me videos)

6:03 On the monthly cover page she does a little journal entry for her hopes, dreams, and goals for the month.

Enjoy!

Do you want more?