I'm approaching ten years of daily drawing. Over time my sketchbook has become a frequent repository of diary and memoir comics. Biggest lesson is: just draw! Draw what you can see from wherever you sit, draw from your imagination, draw patterns, whatever it is -- do it every day. That's all it takes. Don't make it hard, and don't be hard on yourself.
The 10 minute daily drawing was a great way to start a routine. What I missed during that time was working on larger artworks because I only had 10 min of time most days due to LIFE. But now I’m happy to put those daily 10 minutes to larger artworks that I’ve been thinking about in my mind. And I have to think they are in my mind because of the daily 10 minutes. Those 10 minutes are useful in so many ways. Now I know when I get stumped in the future, I can return to 10 minute timed moments to get my creativity back in motion. A very informative and impactful 30 days! ♥️
I learned that I can. I also pinpointed my art fears. I want to continue and i know exactly what I’m scared to draw--people/animals/realia. I could use a Wendy/GUT-ified structure to approach this, so maybe I’ll re-listen to the Linda Barry DT episode. And i learned we are all in this together. It was nice to know I’m not alone in creating alongside fear.
I feel like I gained confidence with this challenge. Not confidence that I was a great artist or that I was making great work. But confidence that I could create visual art and get BETTER (not perfect) with practice. It helped me with my fear of even trying to draw because of how it might turn out. I enjoyed the structure, too. Thank you so much, Wendy, and thanks to all the GUTsters who are such great supporters.
A surprise to me is to that you, Wendy, and we, creators, have lived in a virtual space where we can be ourselves, with our fears and joys, sorrows and celebrations, with the support of generous and brave fellow adventurers. I think THAT’s the big gift, and the drawing is a blast too.
I’ve learned to put my inner critic and my fears in the backseat, facing backwards, all buckled in tight. Fear does nothing but keep us in one place, and I want to grow creatively. I surprised myself a few times this past month with my abilities and for the first time, I finally allowed myself to show my work without fear of rejection. I took a drawing class about four years ago and was so completely stressed each time we went through critique...but with this amazing GUT family, I proudly show my work, however wonky it may look, because of the support we have for each other. I think sometimes what it would be like if we were all able to meet once a week, in person, in some humongous art room to draw and create freely together...how fun would that be! Thank you GUT family and Wendy for helping me focus on my creative purpose 💛
For me, I learned how amazing and wonderful it is to draw together. The feeling of support from others has transformed me - and I have such joy! I am drawing every evening now and time just falls away - like dreaming I am pouring forth. I do not know what will be next but I am glad and excited to find out. Thank you Wendy, Thank you everyone. I am very grateful for this gift you given me. Much thanks.
This was great for me. A couple years ago I had a goal of drawing every day and checked little boxes. The boxes were not sufficient motivation. This was a great way to "develop a muscle." It helped to do it in the morning. One or two times I didn't. Surprises--that I liked collages + drawing. I had parameters for this: Paper Source card stock 7x7 and one photo. The one photo is a whole story by itself. Another surprise was one of the journal drawings. It was after an evening playing Scrabble with friends. I drew an Agnes Martin grid and randomly colored squares light and dark pink and light and dark blue. I still am unable to put photos on subs track. AND I am okay with that. A gift is that I have a friend in another state who used to be in letterpress class with me. She too is doing GUT and we have shared images and remarks. During the last week I realized that I really wanted to just keep doing this. Two things to explore are drawings of plants I see on my way home from downtown and architecture drawings of houses (old) in my neighborhood. A third is to do cyano-sun prints (Austin Kleon's post this morning) and make collages. Let the wild rumpus begin!
This 30 day exercise has made the blank page so much less intimidating. I loved that the prompts were scaffolded over time, building up our muscle memory and routine. I've wanted to get better at drawn journaling and the 10 minute daily practice along with brainstorming possible moments helped me not just look around in my room when I finally opened my sketchbook. Wendy, your thoughtful planning of these 30 days was really brilliant-- thank you!
I do have another quick comment. I would love if it were possible to go back to see a particular member/student/artist’s work on our thread easily, by clicking on their name, for instance. Sometimes I’d like to revisit a suggestion or element or style from an earlier post. I’m not sure if this is possible here. Thanks.
I loved the challenge, the prompts and the background influences! I loved thinking about what I was going to draw each day and then actually sharing what I did with friends and family outside of GUT. Good times!
This was a wonderful experience from day #1 to day #30! I learned so much about myself in the process and enjoyed soaking up the infinite creativity of the group. Bravo everyone and Wendy!!!
The 10 minutes was a great way to lead now back to daily creativity. It opened up the gates and the ability to make it a daily priority. Side note: it helped that I was on vacation for 1/3rd of the 30 days
I'm approaching ten years of daily drawing. Over time my sketchbook has become a frequent repository of diary and memoir comics. Biggest lesson is: just draw! Draw what you can see from wherever you sit, draw from your imagination, draw patterns, whatever it is -- do it every day. That's all it takes. Don't make it hard, and don't be hard on yourself.
The 10 minute daily drawing was a great way to start a routine. What I missed during that time was working on larger artworks because I only had 10 min of time most days due to LIFE. But now I’m happy to put those daily 10 minutes to larger artworks that I’ve been thinking about in my mind. And I have to think they are in my mind because of the daily 10 minutes. Those 10 minutes are useful in so many ways. Now I know when I get stumped in the future, I can return to 10 minute timed moments to get my creativity back in motion. A very informative and impactful 30 days! ♥️
I learned that I can. I also pinpointed my art fears. I want to continue and i know exactly what I’m scared to draw--people/animals/realia. I could use a Wendy/GUT-ified structure to approach this, so maybe I’ll re-listen to the Linda Barry DT episode. And i learned we are all in this together. It was nice to know I’m not alone in creating alongside fear.
I feel like I gained confidence with this challenge. Not confidence that I was a great artist or that I was making great work. But confidence that I could create visual art and get BETTER (not perfect) with practice. It helped me with my fear of even trying to draw because of how it might turn out. I enjoyed the structure, too. Thank you so much, Wendy, and thanks to all the GUTsters who are such great supporters.
A surprise to me is to that you, Wendy, and we, creators, have lived in a virtual space where we can be ourselves, with our fears and joys, sorrows and celebrations, with the support of generous and brave fellow adventurers. I think THAT’s the big gift, and the drawing is a blast too.
I’ve learned to put my inner critic and my fears in the backseat, facing backwards, all buckled in tight. Fear does nothing but keep us in one place, and I want to grow creatively. I surprised myself a few times this past month with my abilities and for the first time, I finally allowed myself to show my work without fear of rejection. I took a drawing class about four years ago and was so completely stressed each time we went through critique...but with this amazing GUT family, I proudly show my work, however wonky it may look, because of the support we have for each other. I think sometimes what it would be like if we were all able to meet once a week, in person, in some humongous art room to draw and create freely together...how fun would that be! Thank you GUT family and Wendy for helping me focus on my creative purpose 💛
For me, I learned how amazing and wonderful it is to draw together. The feeling of support from others has transformed me - and I have such joy! I am drawing every evening now and time just falls away - like dreaming I am pouring forth. I do not know what will be next but I am glad and excited to find out. Thank you Wendy, Thank you everyone. I am very grateful for this gift you given me. Much thanks.
This was great for me. A couple years ago I had a goal of drawing every day and checked little boxes. The boxes were not sufficient motivation. This was a great way to "develop a muscle." It helped to do it in the morning. One or two times I didn't. Surprises--that I liked collages + drawing. I had parameters for this: Paper Source card stock 7x7 and one photo. The one photo is a whole story by itself. Another surprise was one of the journal drawings. It was after an evening playing Scrabble with friends. I drew an Agnes Martin grid and randomly colored squares light and dark pink and light and dark blue. I still am unable to put photos on subs track. AND I am okay with that. A gift is that I have a friend in another state who used to be in letterpress class with me. She too is doing GUT and we have shared images and remarks. During the last week I realized that I really wanted to just keep doing this. Two things to explore are drawings of plants I see on my way home from downtown and architecture drawings of houses (old) in my neighborhood. A third is to do cyano-sun prints (Austin Kleon's post this morning) and make collages. Let the wild rumpus begin!
I now have 10 minutes every single day that are for drawing 🎨. This is a wonderful gift. I would have never thought that 10 minutes can be enough.
That time has become part of my morning ritual - the one I will keep when back to work. After all- 10 minutes is time to drink my coffee.
If it’s a day when I can- I’ll spend more time drawing in the morning - if not I’ll look for pockets of time during the day.
In any case this Challenge has changed how I incorporate art in my life and I’m grateful 🙏🏻
Another gift- the Community !
🐆🌈
This 30 day exercise has made the blank page so much less intimidating. I loved that the prompts were scaffolded over time, building up our muscle memory and routine. I've wanted to get better at drawn journaling and the 10 minute daily practice along with brainstorming possible moments helped me not just look around in my room when I finally opened my sketchbook. Wendy, your thoughtful planning of these 30 days was really brilliant-- thank you!
I do have another quick comment. I would love if it were possible to go back to see a particular member/student/artist’s work on our thread easily, by clicking on their name, for instance. Sometimes I’d like to revisit a suggestion or element or style from an earlier post. I’m not sure if this is possible here. Thanks.
Agree! I’ll ask the powers that be
I would like this too!
Me too!
I loved the challenge, the prompts and the background influences! I loved thinking about what I was going to draw each day and then actually sharing what I did with friends and family outside of GUT. Good times!
This was a wonderful experience from day #1 to day #30! I learned so much about myself in the process and enjoyed soaking up the infinite creativity of the group. Bravo everyone and Wendy!!!
The 10 minutes was a great way to lead now back to daily creativity. It opened up the gates and the ability to make it a daily priority. Side note: it helped that I was on vacation for 1/3rd of the 30 days
I read this and wanted yall to have it to as it reminded me of our fun 30days: https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2023/07/commuter-scientists-approach-to-a-coloring-book-have-we-missed-anything/?loclr=eaint