Three hundred, sixty-six.

On New Years Eve, there are many types of posts one could make. Ponderous, looking back, hypothesizing about the future, and the obligatory angst-ridden "where-do-I-fit-into-all-of-this-mess". But instead because I don't have the patience nor time to do any of those, I'm going to do a quick ramble about a challenge I accepted early this year. Frank challenged me to do one sketch for every day of 2008. Starting out it was a pretty intimidating task. Insult was added to injury when we discovered it was actually a leap year and oh yeah I guess that means we need to do one more.

I technically accepted the challenge and started one week into 2008. I needed to do a wee bit of catchup to be on schedule, but on January 7th I did my first sketch:



Over the next dozen months I produced a plethora of horrible sketches, but sprinkled in were the odd gem. Some I really had to work at, some that simply surprised me. It's hard to believe how much is there now that it's done. Going back and sifting through I find myself going "oh yeah, I remember that one."

In any event, I've now arrived at #366 - the very last sketch of the year.



Do you see improvement? Is it better? Worse?

Personally, it looks like it's more realistic. I'm not sure if I'd be confident it labeling it under the 'better' category, but I think it's certainly seems like 365 small steps up from #1. I do, however, lament a certain loss of... Style. Perhaps, rather, I should be looking at it as a development of a new style and ability instead. But you can't deny that the first sketch has its own charm to it.

And so that's it for now. I will, without a doubt, keep doing this in 2009 - I can't believe I haven't been doing it much much longer. It's something that I think about and has become a valuable part of my day-to-day life. If I were to go without it, I just don't think it'd nearly be the same.

So when you read this, Frank, I want to say a huge THANK YOU. I had no idea it'd be such a positive impact. Thank you for getting me off my arse and commit to regularly developing my skill. I couldn't have done it without your efforts as well, I truly enjoyed sifting through your sketch dumps on Flickr. Cheers bro, we made it. Congrats.

The whole set of sketches from 2008 can be found right here. Curious about the reference I used for sketches #1 and #366? That's right here. As for 2009, well... Give it 24hrs. There'll be a link in the next post for sure.

Happy New Years everyone. Keep your pen, pencil, brush, stylus or whatever weapon of choice busy in 2009.
-Cril

Ramsey Lewis - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?