365 Days of Cats

Grubby Grrrl in Upstate New York is making 365 Days of Cats...

Why did you decide to do this project? I have been wanting to add something creative to my life for the last few years and bumbled about trying things. I never fully committed to one idea so I would start one, drift off into another and yet another and not really progress with any one project. (I am a Gemini. Can you tell? He he.) I heard Noah Scalin interviewed on The Accidental Creative Podcast and loved the yearlong challenge idea! And loved receiving guidance from someone who had walked the path already and had great ideas. I believe that everyone is creative and we all need to create to be really content. I also love how if you give 10 people the same raw ingredients with the same assignment to create some piece of art, you will get 10 unique pieces.  I was curious what mine would look like.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Hmmm, I am actually surprised how only 4 weeks in, it is having a pretty big effect on my life. Making the commitment has forced me to get something out each day.  So it makes me ignore my normal drive for perfection, which is a BIG stumbling block for me and which I have used as an excuse to back out on other ideas before. I like how I am a little uncomfortable every day, worried if I'll get an idea, worried if I can get a cat done, worried if it will be good. And yet I need to ignore that and come up with something every day and end up with a feeling of accomplishment at the end of each project. Especially as I look back, already weeks of cats accumulating! Doing a little at a time, we can all achieve so much. This has also pushed me into learning how to set up a blog which is actually fun. And now I'm following other blogs which creates a sense of community for me. It has been both fun and helpful to watch other people's 365 projects and sometimes they are a source of inspiration.

Doing the cats and wanting to enjoy the process also teaches me to focus on producing things that I like, without worrying about what others think. Practicing in different mediums is really fun because I've been away from art for so long I don't even know what I like to do anymore and there are so many options. I let my posts go out to Facebook, so people I don't expect surprise me by commenting that they actually like the cats.  Someone at my workplace had suggestions for making a cat, which I'm going to take her up on. It's just fun to have others involved. And I have gotten two other people to "drink the Kool Aid" who are starting projects which I find so exciting! I want to see what their work looks like! On the Make Something 365 blog, I read that others improved their time management skills with this project and I had hope, but I'm still bad at that. Yet it is amazing that I make the time to do a project every day.

The only down side is that I get less sleep but even that hasn't effected me as much as I expected. I feel energized by this project. I have to work to keep my focus on the cats, because seeing how much I am accomplishing with this level of focus and daily commitment, I have other things I want to make a daily commitment to, but they will have to wait for the future. 

See all of of Grubby Grrrl's cats HERE.

365 Mertit Badge: Face The Day 100

Melissa has won a 365 Merit Badge with this video about her Face The Day 100 project...

See all of Melissa's portraits & comics HERE.

And don't forget you can get a merit badge of your own just by making a short video. Details are HERE.

Jessie's Self Portrait 365

Jessie L. Tyson (Southern JezeBelle to the roller derby community) is a summer camp director in Hardwick, NJ & a skater for Skyland Roller Girls out of Hackettstown, NJ and she's doing a Self Portrait 365...

She explains, "I'm using every diverse art form to tell the story of me. I'll be doing some type of self portrait for 365 (actually, 366 for the leap year) days. They will be plays, musicals, drawings, sculptures, found art, created art, borrowed art, assemblages, paintings, food, you name it! I'm going to be 30 in January and want to make a creative mark."

Why did you decide to do this project? I was at a Borders that's closing (sad day) and I saw the journal on the shelf. I'd just been complaining about how "off" I was feeling creatively, so I decided to get it. Half off can't be too bad, right? In reading the introduction and perusing the prompts, I just knew I had to do this. So I did!

I chose to do self portraits because for a long time I didn't want to really acknowledge myself. I'm straight horrible at taking compliments and, while I'm very open, I tend to hide stupid little things. It's hard for me to accept that people dig me, so this is a much more playful way to get comfortable with myself and how awesome people say I am. Because I'm probably pretty awesome.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Already I've discovered so many things about myself. I find it really boring to continue a task. :) I tend to get caught up in the language of the prompts and see how I can make it work with what I'm doing instead of just jumping in like I usually would, which would ordinarily be the opposite. Oh, and I'm realizing it's ok to be imperfect! It's sometimes fun when things go awry!

See all of Jessie's self portraits on her blog HERE or on Facebook HERE.

Art Every Day Follow-Up

I've decided to periodically check back in with some folks who have completed their 365 projects...

Jennifer Gorman made Art Every Day from July 20, 2010 to August 26, 2011...

What are the biggest lessons/skills you learned from doing your project?  Don't beat yourself up!  have fun and make, make, make.  For the most part I learned to be less self conscious about 'putting it out there' and I was much more productive creatively, which flowed over to the rest of my life.  Greater creativity made me happier, happier me is more productive, spontaneous, and in turn MORE CREATIVE.  Big happy circle.

In what ways did the project change your life? As much fun as I had it was much harder than I thought it would be.  I think I didn't realize the magnitude of making something e.v.e.r.y. d.a.y.  I had to make time to make.  Some days it was totally easy, I was already working on something, some days it was much harder; I just didn't WANT to make anything.  Some days I excelled, some days were mediocre and finally some days were major fails.  That's okay, that's life, that's art.

I think the other big way my life changed was the sense of community I found during the past year.  From photographers, painters, and musicians to yarn-bombers and other creative folks they all supported the project and kept me moving along.  “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" is more than just a theme in my art; it is my philosophy in life. I want to help create the power of community, a body of individuals working together to make something better, something bigger. This project helped me understand a singular challenge: how do I unravel the mystery of my piece of the community around me?

Now what? Art Every day 2.0 of course!
The next year I will be building off of something on my Stupendous Life List, something I have already started, a public, found, and hopefully inspirational art project.

See Jennifer's original 365 interview HERE.
And see all of daily her art HERE.

Have you finished your own 365 project? I'd love to hear from you!

Caffeinated Toothpaste

Josh Bauman in Berlin, Germany is creating a daily diary comic strip called Caffeinated Toothpaste...

Why did you decide to do this project? I started this project as part of Ivan Brunetti's self-study cartooning course (Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice). One of the earlier assignments was to draw a week of four-panel diary strips. That was in March of 2010 and I've been going ever since. My initial drive for continuing the diary strips was to try and draw comics as much as possible and also try and improve my drawing and art skills. 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? After a few months of drawing strips I compiled them online and began publishing them as a web comic. I've since self published a printed compilation from the first year and have been turning my project into a business that I take very seriously. On the other hand, my friends and family have had to put up with my near-obsessive schedule of getting a comic up at the same time every day, even on vacation.

See all of Josh's comics HERE.

Star Wars Remix

Just wanted to announce that a new project I've been helping out with has launched today!

Star Wars Remix is the brainchild of my friends Emma Beddows and Scott Walker, who asked if I would use my Skull-A-Day expertise to help them get the ball rolling.

Basically the idea is to get people making Star Wars characters, scenes, props, etc. out of everyday materials. I helped out with the banner for the site as well as several original creations, which they will be posting over the next month. I've had a lot of fun returning to materials and techniques I tried out in Skull-A-Day. In fact you may recognize today's post's concept from this piece and material from this piece.

I also got several 365 friends to participate as well including Everything Burger's Charlton Yu and Freehand Profit from MASK365, so expect to see some great new work over the next few weeks.

I hope you'll check it out AND consider making and sharing a Star Wars Remix of your own!

Posts & Badges

Just a reminder that I would love to share your project! To be clear, weekly projects are acceptable, as are daily projects that are only scheduled for a short time (i.e. 30 days, 100 days). Submission details are HERE.

Also I still have a handful of embroidered 365 Merit Badges to give away. If you'd like one of your own you just have to make a short video about your project, details are HERE.

365 Merit Badge: Running Three 65

Kevin has won a 365 Merit Badge with this video about his Running Three 65 project...

Follow Kevin's progress on his blog HERE and see his original interview for this site HERE.

And don't forget you can get a merit badge of your own just by making a short video. Details are HERE.

No More Moon Poems

My friend Josh Hockensmith in Pittsboro, NC is making daily poetry in  "No more moon poems."


He explains, "For "No more moon poems" I'm sharing a haiku or other kind of short poem each day.  Many of them are new, but many are also culled from notebooks that I've been keeping for years and years.  It's been a great way to be consistently productive, but also to go back and rescue a lot of stuff that I may never have revisited otherwise."

 

 

red

sunset

the breakdancer

so smoothly

spins

to his feet

Why did you decide to do this project?  My friend Luke and I were commiserating about how we:  a). weren't as productive creatively as we wished, and b). were too self-conscious and critical about putting our work out into the world.  I told Luke about Make Something 365 and he was really enthusiastic about it.  We decided to both start a project at the same time so that we'd feel accountable to each other to keep it going.  So far so good -- we've both been going since early July.  You can see wonderful daily videos of Luke's music project over at http://lukepaynemusic.com.

new pen new blue new words
new name for new gnosis
I knew names knew blues
knew words knew Nothing-ness
but now no nothing, no,
know nothing
now no nothing not new
not now
I know
no
news

--

night

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It has kept me focused on one area of creative production really well.  I've always been pretty productive, but scattered.  I'd write a haiku here, some fiction there, work on a translation of something else...  That's fun, but it's hard to create anything substantial that way or to improve at one thing.  This project has me thinking about haiku consistently enough that it's helping me to broaden my understanding and practice. 

Since I have to post something new each day it's also making me less perfectionistic and more willing to experiment.  I've been trying new ways to compose haiku.  And I've been discovering "visual haiku", which are haiku that are made of images instead of words.  I haven't posted any of those yet, but I'm working on it.  I'm looking forward to stretching more and more as the year goes along.

The funny (and most rewarding) thing is that even though I'm maintaining my focus on haiku, my work in other areas hasn't dropped off.  I used to feel afraid to commit to something like this for fear that it would siphon all my energy and prevent me from achieving other goals.  But the opposite is true:  creating something gives you MORE creative energy for the next thing.

robin
pauses

hops under


fluttering
yellow
CAUTION
tape

Read all of Josh's poems HERE.

ATC-A-Day

Diane DeMers Chen in El Cajon, California is making an ATC(Artist Trading Card)-A-Day...

Why did you decide to do this project? I like making art but have a hard time with things holding me back mentally: I'm not good enough, the subject isn't beautiful enough (or meaningful, precious, profound, etc). I bought the Skulls book when it first came out but I don't think I really understood at the time that Noah made one EVERY day. Earlier this year I joined a sketchcrawl group and one member was talking about the make-something-365 project and talked about the skulls, so I went home and looked at the book some more and decided I would do a 365 project. I chose the ATC format because it is small (2 1/2" x 3 1/2"), so it is less intimidating.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It has really changed my perception of myself and art. I have much more confidence in myself; that I can create something when needed. For the first couple of weeks I didn't have any trouble with ideas for subjects. Then it got harder and I would get really stressed out if I didn't have an idea by late afternoon. Now I know I can make an ATC in 1/2 an hour if I need to. I go through phases where I think I'm getting stale - I use a lot of faux postage I've purchased, and sometimes it feels repetitive, especially since I often use 3 gems as accents, mostly because I went nuts buying them and probably have a 5-year supply! And yet, I think each single ATC still stands by itself OK. I have a Pogo printer that prints 2 x 3 inch prints from my pictures on my phone. I have used this quite a bit too, and a lot of scrapbook papers, both backgrounds and themes.

The most interesting thing is how some friends have reacted. One friend thinks it's really cool and when I went to visit her, she was excited to help me with ideas and gave me some stuff to use. Another is jealous of the time I spend on them, even though she does art and should know better.

It's been more than 4 months, and I have no plans to quit anytime soon. I have missed a few days here and there, but make it up the next day and I think that's OK. Usually it's because I'm really busy and just don't have time (more than once I've fallen asleep in the middle of working on one - seriously). Once I got busy doing other things and actually forgot! That surprised me because when I started it was constantly on my mind, and now it's just another part of my life. But I do get behind in posting because I'm often too tired when I finish the card. Then I end up posting 3 or 4 at a time. People don't seem to mind, though.

See all of Diane's ATC's HERE.

365 Swirls

Troy Bridges in Arvada, Colorado is making 365 Swirls...

 Why did you decide to do this project? I started this project when my wife bought me your book as a way to express and create.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I have enjoyed doing something each day (or at least almost every day) that allows me to express my creative side and have some artistic fun at the same time. We all need to take a moment from our busy lives and express ourselves as we see fit (as long as it is not illeagal or causes harm to anyone else). Going through your book for inspiration has been a great source of joy and fun.

See all of Troy's swirls HERE.


 

Help Wanted: 365 Days for You

Tyler Carroll whose 365 Days for You was recently featured here is looking for some help to keep his project going!

Tyler is making a gift for someone every day and he'd like to make something for you! He's written poems, done magic tricks, even painted his face...

If you'd like to help Tyler out post a comment below and let him know what he could do for you!

Running Three 65 :: 3 Miles. Every. Single. Day.

Kevin King in New York City is committed to run at least 3 miles every day, while raising money in memory of a friend who passed away 10 years ago from complications that arose while she was running the Baltimore Marathon in 2001. He calls the project Running Three 65...

Why did you decide to do this project? Running is both a physical and mental reward for me and I can solve 3 hours of problems in a 60 minute run but it's been a while since it's been a habit due to injury, time, life, etc.  I wanted to combine the desire to get running back into my life with a charity effort  to raise money for Karen & Laura Legacy Fund, a non-profit started in memory of a friend of my wife's who died from complications that arose while running the Baltimore marathon. The non-profit provides a scholarship to help one woman a year to attend Smith College.  I had raised money for the K&L LF in the past when running my first and second NYC marathons in 2004 and 2005 and wanted to have another physical challenge to honor the 10th anniversary of
her passing.

Interesting things happen when you force yourself to go on a daily journey and it felt like the right time to give this a try. Not quite the strenuous effort of training for a marathon but enough of a challenge to have interesting stories to share along the way.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Wonderfully. The habit of committing to a daily ritual, even though it's a physical activity, has had wonderful mental impacts in terms of
clarifying my thoughts, reducing stress,  setting up (or allowing me to recap) my day and generally increasing my well being. That combined with raising money for the cause has been excellent.

And Kevin added his own question...
3. Anything crazy or unusual happen so far?
2 Things:

1) Had to hire a babysitter at the last minute to get a run in one day when my wife got caught up at work. The babysitter was very confused by the whole thing.

2) Mickey Mouse almost broke me. Took the family on our first trip to Disney World (personally not a super fan -- never went to as a child, but my own children loved it) and one day I was starting my 3 mile run at 11:15 PM after walking around all day at the Magic Kingdom.  All I kept thinking was 'This is ridiculous and far from magical.'

Read about all of the miles Kevin is running HERE.

365 @ SXSW

I've proposed a panel for the 2012 SXSW Interactive conference called Get Unstuck: Creative Inspiration from Skull-A-Day.

As part of the process they want feedback from the online community (which accounts for 30% of their decision-making). So I would greatly appreciate if you took a moment or two to give my proposal a thumbs up (and if you have a few more moments to spare leave a comment).

And of course if you're proposing a panel of your own let me know in a comment and I'll be happy to do the same for you!