The Speed at Which You Create

Introduction

I once talked with a friend about the value of time in art. At the centre of our debate was the question: Is a painting worth more because it took longer? Are things that are slower inherently more valuable to us? We often associate time with quality, the more time is spent on something, the higher quality it will be. Speed and quickness are associated with rushing and lower-quality goods. Yet the wait time in Michelin-starred restaurants can sometimes be shorter than the time spent waiting for a single item from a fast-food joint, and of course, a master craftsman crafting anything in 10 hours will probably be higher quality than if an amateur spent 100 hours on the same thing. 

When it comes to time and creativity, there are a lot of facets to consider. Someone who has mastered a craft has spent countless hours perfecting and honing their work, and so surely we have to count that in some way? No one becomes a master through sheer talent alone, and practice takes time. Do we account for this preparatory time when we evaluate an artistic work? It can take less than a minute to set a new world record in heavy lifting, but what goes into those seconds is hours and hours of hard work and dedication. 

We can’t overlook a piece of work solely by the time it took to create it, and more time doesn’t always mean better. If we spend tens of thousands of hours doing something wrong, it only perfects that mistake. Of course, what you value in an artistic work is different from person to person, and the only valuable thing to evaluate is yourself and your own work. So, from that lens, we will be discussing today the aspect of time and at what speed you create your work. Time is often viewed as a currency, and we have finite amounts in our lives. What and how we spend our time is of great importance, and so we have to understand where our time is valued and where it is not. To make the best work we can do, we need to understand how much time a work needs and the value of that time.

The Value of Time

All time is fundamentally the same, a minute is a minute no matter where on the globe you are. What is different is our perception of time and how much time is required for different things. There is both subjectivity and objectivity to time on Earth. Given the same amount of time, two people can do vastly different things, but only if they are both achievable within that time. With practice and training, we can work quickly and do things faster, without compromising quality. When it comes to evaluating things based on time, there are a lot of different factors to take in and there is a balancing act to the speed at which you create.

There are benefits to both quickness and slowness, and we’re going to be discussing both of them so that we can better understand when to apply either. There is also some intuition or trust you will have to use; we often speak about the right person at the right time, or vice versa and sometimes a work of art just is too early or too late. There’s really no telling or determining this as far as human perception and understanding goes, call it luck or whatever, but on some level, you just have to trust you’re doing it at the right speed and the right time. The real value of time is your life, and you will have to spend it. 

When it comes to art, you will have to forsake some things in your life and reprioritise what you give your time and energy towards. It’s important to remember that art is such a natural part of your life that just living feeds it. With that said, however, you have to spend time practising your craft if you want to get better at it, and you have to spend time working if you want to have something to show for it. But there is a degree of slowness which is also required for truly great art, and that type of slowness can take a lifetime, and it often happens in between the sessions in the studio. It’s this living that really gives soul to a work, and it can’t be rushed. 

Do it Quickly but Don’t Rush

The more we do something, the quicker we get at it naturally, and this is a great plus and a big reason to work hard. Not because we have to pump out a ridiculous amount of work in a small time to meet unrealistic standards, but because we can do so much more. We can put our time and energy towards other aspects of the work or ourselves, and improve those. No one ever finishes learning, and speed is a great friend when it comes to moving forward. But we have to move with care, you can’t rush because rushing leads to mistakes, sloppiness and compromising quality. With practice and skill, you can make a lot without stress and worry, and with this effortlessness, a new path of least resistance leads the way to unimaginable heights. 

There is greatness in this, and when it comes to the added value to art, being able to finish a work is important. You can’t do this without speed. With a sluggish and slow approach to making, you will have nothing finished. If you only give time and space to your work, it will eventually get nowhere. There is a time when speed has to be at the forefront, not to rush and just be over and done with, but to propel you forward, and to take your work to the next level. There’s a wall sometimes that you come up against, and the only way to break through that block is to move at a sufficient speed, a speed which you build up by practising. Discipline and consistency are the nitro fuel which allows you to break through that barrier once it stands in your way. This is the true value of quickness. 

Not as a race towards the finish line or to be in first place, but to utilise the momentum to its fullest potential - your fullest potential. When you get into the flow of creating you just have to go with it, even if it’s at a neckbreak pace, when the winds of inspiration take a hold of your sails you do not raise them and sail peacefully across the ocean, you use this momentum to take you to your destination, enjoy the wind in your hair and make the most of it. You can’t slow down when you reach those speeds, and when you’re so immersed in the creative process, a break or a pause here can be the end of a specific piece. Ride it out, and don’t press on the brakes, just let it ride out, and eventually you will slow down and eventually even stop. 

Some of my personal favourites of my work have been made and finished in a few hours, not counting the time it took me to get to that point; other times, it’s been pieces I’ve been working on for years. For somebody outside of the process itself, it can often be difficult to tell which pieces took no time at all or which ones took longer. You create a masterpiece in seconds if everything falls into place, and you can get stuck obsessing over something insignificant for years. It’s important to differentiate between the two and to truly trust the process.

The Turtle Wins the Race

There is a quote from a character in the TV series Lost about Michelangelo’s work process, and the anecdote might be completely artificial and made up it has a valuable lesson:

“Michelangelo's father. He was a wealthy man. He had no understanding of the divinity in his son, so he beat him. No child of his was going to use his hands for a living. So Michelangelo learned not to use his hands. Years later, a visiting Prince came into Michelangelo's studio and found the master staring at a single 18-foot block of marble. Then he knew the rumours were true that Michelangelo had come in every day for the past four months, stared at the marble, and gone home for his supper. So the Prince asked the obvious, "What are you doing?" And Michelangelo turned around and looked at him and whispered, "Sto lavorando". "I'm working." Three years later, that block of marble was the Statue of David.” 

Michelangelo spent a lot of time studying anatomy, and another great example of a more contemporary artist with a similar skill for seeing with his inner eye was Stanisław Szukalski, who repeatedly claimed to hate references and believed that using references when painting ruined the skills of an artist. It took both of these artists a great amount of time to acquire these skills, and into their detail-rich work went not only a lot of preparation but also a lot of patience. Slow and steady wins the race.

Some things can’t be rushed, and they just need time. Give them that time, some blockages you can run through if you get enough speed, but some just require you to stay afloat, and if you fight against them, you run the risk of drowning. Don’t stress unnecessarily, but don’t let your peace stop you from creating at all. Moving slowly is not the same as standing still. 

Final Words

It’s nigh impossible to say that something is just straight up worth more because it took longer or shorter, there are so many factors to it, and even counting time is not always straightforward. Keep this in mind and learn to discern what speed is appropriate for the task at hand. Some things work better if you do them quickly, and some if you take your time. 

When doing things with great speed, remember not to compromise on quality and to rush. Don’t be overconfident or stressed when working. Stress doesn’t help you, no matter the speed you work at. Quickness is great for progress, and if you use the momentum you’re provided, you will soar. Speed is required for flight, but if you’re not careful, going too fast can lead to burnout. 

The strength in slowness is consistent progress and meticulousness. The reason we associate a long time with quality is because things take time, and details especially. Fixing and perfecting something takes a lot of time, and it can be really slow. This, of course, doesn’t sit well with our stimming and rushing society, where everything would have preferably been done a minute ago, and where we count every second. 

Time is money, and sometimes we can’t afford the speed which we would prefer. It’s not always up to us, so we have to trust the process and put our faith in it and that it will be right on time. Figure out what tasks require what speed and don’t stress it, work feverishly and at an incredible speed when the work calls for it and crawl to a snail’s pace when the work requires that. This might seem superfluous, but when you discern and understand the two, you will see the value both bring.