Bandana Sketches

I need a bandana print for a collection coming up, so I did some sketches today.

Hello Little One

We draw and we don't judge.

Making a Plan

I was going to try writing some beautiful post all about my plan for this creative practice. But, I'm not a writer - nor do I want to be. I'm an artist. I want to spend my time making art. And typing too much hurts my hands. However, I do want to post a plan here that I can look back on and remind myself what I'm doing here. So I rambled to ChatGPT all my thoughts and asked it to organize my brain for me. Cuz, I have trouble doing that. 😆

Also, this is LONG. Very long, because I kept the list format that I like.

My organized thoughts, a la ChatGPT:

Inspiration / Influences

Artists and resources influencing this new approach:

• Tom Froese (Drawing is Important), Dylan Mierzwinski (Sketchbook Fillers Club), Nicole Cicak, On Mar Win, Artist Is a Verb

Themes you’re pulling from:

• sustainable creativity
• daily practice without perfectionism
• prolific output
• process over polish
• consistency without rigidity

---

Main Goal of the Daily Practice

The purpose is not just “drawing every day.”

The purpose is to:

• create work more prolifically
• build a large body of usable illustration assets
• stop over-editing and over-perfecting
• generate material that can later become portfolio work
• slowly build a personal asset vault/library

You want the practice to produce:

• small graphic assets that can later be combined into finished illustrations, greeting cards, collections, etc.

Core idea:

Every sketch or painting is potentially adding to the asset library.

---

Problems You’ve Had With Past Daily Challenges

1. Inconsistency

• You naturally fluctuate in energy and motivation.
• Missing days used to trigger guilt and abandonment of the whole practice.

New approach:

• expect inconsistency
• missing a day is inevitable
• avoid missing multiple days in a row if possible
• simply resume without guilt

---

2. Boredom With Strict Themes

You dislike:

• rigid prompts
• one-theme-only challenges
• repetitive structures

New approach:

• maintain a broad category list
• choose based on mood/energy
• allow flexibility and spontaneity

---

3. Creating “Random” Work That Isn’t Useful

Past frustration:

• spending limited energy creating art that never gets used

New approach:

• focus on highly reusable visual assets
• create motifs you regularly use in illustration work
• think in terms of building blocks/components

---

4. Perfectionism

You do not want:

• polished consistency
• matching aesthetics every day
• pressure to make finished art
• pressure to create Instagram-worthy content

You specifically want:

• low pressure
• momentum
• experimentation
• volume over perfection

---

Structure of the Practice

Frequency

Goal:

• daily, because it’s simpler mentally

Reality:

• some days will be skipped
• that is acceptable

Minimum requirement:

• 5 minutes

On low-energy days:

• quick pencil sketch
• pen-to-paper only
• timer-based session

Success is defined by:

• continuing the practice
• not perfection

---

Paper / Sketchbook Philosophy

You dislike:

• committing to a single sketchbook
• intimidation from pristine sketchbooks
• wasting paper

Instead:

• use loose paper
• use scraps
• use partially-used sketchbooks
• use whatever is available

Goal:

• reduce friction
• reduce preciousness

---

Themes

·         Flowers

·         Butterflies / bees

·         Lettering

·         Vases / containers / mugs / envelopes / teacup/ wine bottles/vintage coffee carafe

·         Cake / cake slice / cupcake

·         Ribbons / bows

·         Blender pattern

·         Plaids, check etc

·         Hands / arms

·         Dots / stars / hearts etc.

·         Frames / borders (look up folk borders on Hoopla)

·         Balloons / confetti / candles

·         Birds

·         Cats / dogs

·         Houseplants

·         Fruit

 

---

Why These Themes Work

These subjects are: reusable, recolorable, adaptable, versatile, useful across multiple illustration collections.

Examples:

• florals can work in many color palettes
• monochrome blender patterns can be recolored later
• lettering can combine with motifs for greeting cards

---

Posting / Documentation Plan

You do NOT want to use Instagram.

Reasons:

Anxiety, pressure, perfectionism, performance feeling

Alternative:

• personal blog on Blogger

Why the blog feels better: still public, lower pressure, more personal, less performative, easier to share process work.

---

Workflow

1. Create piece
2. Photograph/resize on phone/post quickly
3. Upload to blog
4. Stack physical artwork
5. Batch scan later
6. Add to digital asset library

Important:

• do not obsess over lighting or presentation
• quick documentation is enough

---

Rules / Philosophy Statements

Possible “guiding rules” for the practice:

• Five minutes counts. It doesn’t have to be finished today. Just post the progress.
• Pen to paper counts.
• Imperfect work counts.
• Missing one day is normal.
• Resume immediately without guilt.
• The goal is volume, not perfection.
• The practice exists to build usable creative assets.
• Flexibility keeps the practice alive.
• The system should reduce friction, not add pressure.
• Documentation does not need to be polished.
• Finished portfolio pieces can emerge later from accumulated assets.

In which we start this new journey

Day 1 of create art every day. I spent most of my free time today setting up this new blog, so right before bed figured I'd better do some actual art.

I liked that this was fun and easy to do using markers and not at all stressful to do right before bed.