I wavered about whether to participate in The 100 Day Project this year, especially since it started earlier than last year. The idea for the change of date is to give folks participating something creative to focus on in a winter when many of us are in lockdown.
My main reasons for participating in past years, whether I successfully completed the project or it's still a work in progress, were to:
challenge me to complete a project that had been on my to-do list for a while;
learn a new medium or technique (e.g. digital collage);
improve my skills in a particular medium (e.g. creative writing); and/or
inspire and motivate me to continue creating.
At the moment, I have a lot of projects in progress and new projects I'm planning to do during the year, so I definitely don't need creative inspiration or motivation!
I'm also conscious that projects I've set myself in previous years have been pretty involved, and therefore, time-consuming. I knew that if I were to participate this year, it had to be a project or daily exercise that wouldn't become all-consuming. It couldn't take hours out of my day to complete, and therefore overwhelm and detract from my other projects.
I felt it needed to be something that allowed me to learn a new skill or develop it in a more disciplined, but hopefully, fun and low-pressure way.
I had considered a graphic design project but knew what I had in mind would fall into the categories of 'involved' and 'time-consuming'. So I've decided to still work on those projects and build up those skills but in a way that's not daily or time-limited.
It also needed to be a project that wouldn't cost me anything as money is tight, at the moment.
So, I've set myself a project I'm calling 'a sketchy practice'.
I have a pencil, an eraser, almost 100 blank pages in a visual diary, and plenty of visual inspiration around me; from the mundane to the not-so-mundane.
My drawing skills leave a lot to be desired. It's something I've always felt I was terrible at, especially when compared to my younger brother and many of my friends. It was a big reason for me falling in love with photography initially. I had lots of visual ideas, but I didn't have the skill or natural talent to draw or paint them or otherwise get them out of my head.
So this project will force me to slow down for ten minutes or so each day to develop my drawing skills through practice. And, hopefully, improve my drawing from 'sketchy' to 'sketches'.
As I did last year, I'll posts these here publicly each day. And I'll share them to social media and my Patreon the same day because the project is time-bound, and because they'll likely be of varying quality.
Without being too strict on time, the aim is to spend ten minutes or more on a sketch each day and work within the following broad rules:
Drawings can be of objects around me, inspired by photographs (mine or others'), or from my imagination.
Where drawings are from a physical object or a photograph I'll include a photo of what I'm drawing from.
At this stage, they'll be grey lead pencil drawings on pages of a visual diary. If I still have my Derwent coloured pencils, maybe I'll graduate to colour drawings at some point.
They can be outlines or more detailed. It will depend on the subject, how skilful and confident I'm feeling, etc.
Use of an eraser is allowed, but the idea is not to be too much of a perfectionist.
They'll be shared (I'm predicting) in a square format to Instagram, my Patreon, here and my other social media accounts, ideally, on the day they're completed.
So, without further ado, here's day one's sketch of our young avocado plant along with an approximation of the view I was drawing from.
Constructive critique, tips and advice from those with talent and skills in drawing and illustration are most welcome!
