For me personally, no day is the same, some days are thinking days, some are admin days, when I’m lucky a day is an illustration day! If there is any routine it starts with going to my studio earlyish, 8am, and firstly I’ll do any required emails and plan out key tasks for the day in my To Do list (I live by Google Notes!).
After an hour or so I’ll make a pot of coffee and get into whatever is the most important task for the morning, whether it’s sketching out roughs or vectoring in Illustrator. I have never switched over to drawing on a tablet, so my sketches are still on paper, which I’ll then scan and clean- up in Photoshop, this is one of my favourite processes, getting a sketch clean and clear for the client.
Working in Adobe Illustrator is perhaps 80% of my life, I have always loved it, it’s a very meditative process, just being present and focusing on that one ongoing task. I’ll create the entire illustration as lifework before moving on to colours, effects etc. I often drop concentration after around two hours, so I might pop outside for some air, or look over my emails and messages for 20 minutes or so, then back into illustrating for another two hours, until lunch.
I have always found that I have a lull in my energy around and after lunch, I don’t think at my best, I don’t enjoy the screen time. So I usually break for perhaps three hours, I’ll walk home for lunch (I live five minutes from my studio), music in my ears, have something to eat and maybe a cup of tea. I also often have to pick my wife up from her work at lunchtime, maybe walk the dog, get some laundry done, anything goes. I find myself in a far better mindset to do domestic chores, or something fun, or relaxing, rather than working at half-power.
This three or four hour break in the middle of the day really is me exercising my right to be my own boss, to structure the day how I want to and work in the best, most efficient way possible. By 4pm I’ll be back at my desk and working again, through until perhaps 6pm, or 7pm if I’m working on something fun and don’t have any family commitments. Towards the end of the day, the studio (and often the whole building) is empty and I can crank up some music and enjoy finishing with creative work, it guarantees that I feel fulfilled and satisfied with the day’s work.