365
As you are already aware, I started the "a-sketch-a-day" 365 challenge on the 7th of September last year. I can now say that the challenge is completed and I didn't miss a day no matter how difficult it was sometimes. I can recall drawing at 4 AM because for one reason or another I happened to be awake still and there was that one more thing to do that day. There were good and bad moments and you can see the progress on my DeviantArt scraps page.
Here is one of the more representative works I did:
Considering I have to balance the everyday life commitments and the mandatory day job, I realize that it has to be enough. I cannot say that I've become proficient, but there's an improvement. After the challenge I can finally engage in creating some different artworks. I plan to continue more or less the same habit, but instead of a sketch per day, I'd try doing artwork that takes several days to complete. Proper lines and colors and all.
I am currently enrolled in the Painter club by Karen Bonaker and I follow the lessons almost immediately after they're posted but I still haven't put anything up for critique. I don't feel ready. Mostly because I don't experiment enough. My art priorities are not perfectly aligned with the course, but I still enjoy it.
People say that it takes about three weeks of doing something non-stop to make a habit of it. I think it's three weeks before you stop whining and obsessing over what you're doing. You just do it and don't stop. Even though I'm not as strict with myself anymore, like I was during the challenge, I retained the need, so to speak, to do something every day.
I made a list of things to work on after the challenge. Some of it is art, some of it is programming. I felt the need to have a structured approach to things. I will probably detail some of the things I've learned from the challenge, art-wise, in the future. For now, I'm focused on one GIMP plug-in I'm working on, but more about that in the next post.