100 Days of Simple
100 Days of Simple
100 Days of Simple

 

Last week, I stumbled on the \”100 Days\” project that began in April.

\”What Is the 100-Day Project? It’s a celebration of process that encourages everyone to participate in 100 days of making. The great surrender is the process; showing up day after day is the goal. For the 100-Day Project, it’s not about fetishizing finished products—it’s about the process.\”

But better late than never (the overall project ends in two weeks),

 \”Note: If you\’re just now finding us, you can still participate. You can choose to join in and catch up if possible or start at Day 1 and finish at your own pace.\”

It\’s totally an honor system challenge and I have the perfect challenge for myself.

I\’ve been thinking about my own work and how it compares to that of other illustrators whom I admire. I personally feel there is a sort of lack of polish in my work, and often an overabundance of unnecessary detail. It may not be a failing but it is something I have identified as something I\’d like to address in my illustration work to get it to the next level. The problem is that I\’m not sure exactly what it is that I need to fix. Lack of polish is a very loose description of a vague problem. On the other hand, it never hurts to work on streamlining  and economy of line.

There\’s no such thing as a \”word count\” in illustration but the idea is similar to trying to condense the work from, say, 4 pages of prose to a haiku. The careful selection of words—I mean lines. The exact right shape of an eyeball, the fewest lines necessary to create a contour. This is definitely no easy task for me. And since I don\’t make enough time for needed practice and exercise…

My project for the next 100 days (whether it\’s executed effectively or not) is to work on drawing simple yet complete illustrations. You can follow my progress on Instagram at the hashtag, #100DaysofSimple.