50-day drawing project

1st day

This blog is my personal project, where I will practice drawing, illustration and art for the next 50 days, every day for 4-6 hours and will be posting something every day when I draw. A kind of really really short-term art-school, where I will produce, showcase and possibly get some feedback too. The idea is to track what happens during this period. The idea is to reflect and most of all to learn.

The grand idea behind all of this, of taking time just to draw emerged a while ago. Maybe a year or so. During that time I was working as a visual/graphic designer, working intensively on different digital service design client projects at the agency in Helsinki Finland. All that time I have been learning tons of new things. Good times, valuable lessons, interesting projects, yet something was missing. As if something was off balance. As if I was leaving something without the attention it needed and at some point I realized it was that I missed doing my own stuff - the projects of my own. Regardless how big or small, or extremely insignificant and meaningless to others - I wanted to do my stuff, art, illustration - I wanted to draw. The only problem at that point was the time.

The time of my own. Something I hardly have after work. For few reasons. Firstly, when working in a creative field, by the end of the day my creative tank is usually quite depleted. Taking a pen is usually the last thing on my mind by the end of the day. Second reason is my two-year old daughter and family life. I'd spend my time with my daughter everyday day after work till the moment she's off to bed and then it feels too late to start anything. Lastly, the third reason is the routine in terms of drawing. This is something I don't have and I think is something people can only get as a result of years long practice, either from art schools or by self-initiated work. Something which comes naturally, without forcing oneself. For me, taking a pen in the evening feels like an extra step usually. What if I worked on it, so that it would be easier?

So. For the reasons mentioned above I realized that I needed to arrange some time for myself. Time to practice. Time to try things, make mistakes, learn. Make new mistakes and learn again. Get inspired. How much time would be sufficient for all of that? The typical duration of art school programs is around three to four years with "express" year-long programs in some places.

Eventually, I got three months. Happy compromise really, an agreement between me and my employer. A good start to try how this works. Three months, before the client work continues again in April 2015. Three months, excluding weekends and leaving some margins for surprises. So, fifty days - 50 - it is. Solid number. And sounds good too.

Stay tuned. This is the 1st day of remaining 50.