Although I'm a graphic designer and illustrator – I hardly ever draw or sketch
purely for fun anymore. I hardly ever crack open a sketch book, grab a pencil
and allow pure creativity and imagination flow to a page. Of course, I used to
do this all the time as a child - filling journals, text books, sketch pads, and
construction paper with countless doodles. But now I draw for a living. I draw
for money. I draw for clients. I draw for WORK. Needless to say – I needed to
remedy this problem.
So I grabbed the nearest sketch pad, a couple pencils, my imagination – and in
about 30 minutes I had created this:
That wasn't so hard! So I tried another:
problem solving armed only with my mind, and a few crude tools. I found this
process very enriching. I found myself thinking like a kid again.
Right around this time I noticed that Omaha's music and design legend, Nicholas Petersen,
was filling my Instagram feed with a daily icon project that he called #iconaday.
Every day, Nicholas would Instagram a process photo of a couple sketches, followed
by a finished, black and white, vector icon. The results were fascinating.
Last week I ran into Nicholas at the monthly 36 pints event- and I began to ask
him all about his icon project. I was delighted to hear that he spends less than an
hour on each of his icons. This made his task seem much more doable – and gave
me the inspiration to start a similar project of my own...
At first, I started calling my project #sketchaday. But I soon realized that lots
of Instagrammer's were already using that tag. So, after I quick search, I discovered
an original tag: #TheDailyDrawing. (Intentionally reminiscent of the amazing
Jessica Hische's Daily Drop Cap project)
I considered narrowing the name down to something like #TheDailyPortrait, since all of my drawings have been imaginary portraits thus far. But I thought I should probably go with something a little more broad – since I love to draw all sorts of different things. (The last thing my creative life needs is more limitations and rules!)
One rule, however, that I plan to keep – is to show 2 production shots before I show the final drawing. I've always been a fan of seeing the creative process – and I believe I'm not alone in this.
Each step of a drawing reveals different choices – different directions. Each step is it's own art.
In closing- please pass along the #iconaday idea:
What's a creative process that you could reasonably execute and share on a daily basis?
I hope you enjoy #TheDailyDrawing, as much as I enjoy creating them.
1 comment:
I look forward to it. I am now a follower
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