#dailysketch: Remembering to Make Art

The Internet is awesome.

I learn something new from it every day. I encounter new artists, authors, books, shows, media, movies, music... and seeing what other people are writing, making, and thinking gets me excited to learn and try things out for myself.

On New Year's Eve, Neil Gaiman posted a beautifully stated set of wishes on his blog, which included the following:

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books... don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."

It got me thinking. How often do I "forget" to make art? How often does my impulse to draw, write, photograph, or sculpt get pushed aside and lost because I'm distracted or overwhelmed or simply too busy with everything else I have to do?

I realized that if I wanted to do creative things, I needed to force it into my schedule -- make a "want-to" into a "have-to". This is a model I'd seen work for people before, my favorite example being Jonathan Coulton's "Thing a Week" project, and he's even written about how forcing himself to work made the music happen...and how the desperate frenzy to make-it-happen had a role in sparking inspiration.

Around this time last year, Cory Doctorow noted the importance of maintaining a routine in an article that explained how he manages to write as much as he does, despite all the distractions. Since reading the article, the part that has stuck with me the most was his comment that "It's not plausible or desirable to try to get the world to go away for hours at a time, but it's entirely possible to make it all shut up for 20 minutes." I've since learned that this is absolutely true. Using this approach has helped me power through things I've had to do for work and school... why not apply it to doing something I want do do?

As a result, #dailysketch was born.

The goal is simple: set aside (at least) 10 minutes every day to sketch, doodle, or draw something, anything. It doesn't have to be good, but it has to happen.

It's easy enough to find 10 minutes of time each day that would be wasted otherwise. And anything I draw, even if it's terrible, only serves to hone my abilities. Chuck Jones used to tell his students, "All of you have one hundred thousand bad drawings in you. The sooner you get rid of them, the better it will be for everyone." If nothing else, this would help me get rid of my hundred thousand bad drawings.

Beyond this, #dailysketch is about getting things onto the page. It's too easy to avoid doing things out of fear that they won't come out right. In response, I've decided to steal Wil Wheaton's mantra:"It's okay to suck. Don't be afraid to suck. It's easier to fix a lame scene than fill up a blank page."

So that's it. 10 minutes, every day (or as close to every day as possible): The good, the bad, and the downright awful.

One week in and I think it's going well.

On Sunday, as a warm up, I did practice sketches using poses from a Doctor Who magazine.



On Monday, I drew a mad scientist riding a dinosaur down the street. The mad scientists would turn out to become a recurring theme, partially because they're fun and they amuse me, and partially because they're surprisingly easy to draw.



Tuesday brought a mad scientist girl greeting her robot minions. Note that all the robots are copies of "Eh" from the Robots of the Company prologue I illustrated. He's become my default for whenever I need to draw a robot.



Wednesday was a tribute to the domestic applications of mad science. I especially like the jar of olives/eyeballs in the background.



Thursday, I decided to expand my theme to superheroes, and wound up with a silly piece about Superman's inability to dress appropriately for a night out on the town. Not one of my better ones in concept or execution, I'll admit...



On Friday, I revisited the main character from "Bottom of the Barrel," who has always been my go-to character whenever I'm not sure what else to draw. Hopefully the use of two default characters in one piece aren't a sign of early fatigue!



And on Saturday, I attempted a 3-panel piece. Again, not one of my better efforts, but I think the first two panels came out much better than they had any right to be.




So, that's it so far.

With the new semester starting up in a few days, I can only hope that I'll be able to continue at this pace. But even if I don't, that's okay too.

So long this continues on a fairly regular basis, I'll be happy. Perhaps I'll change the parameters to once a week. Maybe I'll expand it to include writing, photos, or other projects... The rules don't really matter because at least I'll have remembered to make some art.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions, and requests are all welcome!