Because of the first lockdown in 2020, due to Covid-19, I decided to take on a new drawing challenge. What started at the end of March 2020 as a 30-day plan ended in a full-year run. 365 drawings later it was time to end the journey. It resulted in a series in which I learned a lot. View te results on the pages of 2020 and 2021.

A drawing a day

Drawing for a long period of time, day after day, requires dedication, but it really improves your drawing skills over time. The experience gained will certainly come in handy later. By drawing daily you look at your subjects differently. You look more in shapes, color gradations and proportions. Creating something on paper every day with pencils gives satisfaction, but also sometimes dissatisfaction with the final result. Sometimes I like the result, but often it is also disappointing. But that is ultimately my opinion, which I think is good, is sometimes perceived differently by others, just as they view what I think is a bad drawing.

Time

Ultimately, the available time you have determines the result, but let time not be an issue. Sometimes you just don't have that much time that day to make a masterpiece and a simple sketch suffices. Good results can also be achieved there. On average, I work on a drawing for about half an hour a day and there are peaks of an hour but also of five minutes. I once drew professionally every day. As a designer I drew technical installation drawings every day at an engineering firm. Unfortunately, this structured way of drawing produced a rather fixed and tight drawing style that got in the way of drawing as an art. A drawing a day without a drawing board and rulers therefore works well to loosen the hand, wrist, arm and my world of thoughts.

Subject

A subject that is close to your heart or suits your style usually works out better. But challenges ultimately make you more versatile and to make progress as a artist. That is why I try to draw as many different subjects as possible. Sometimes I vary in style, but my own style still dominates. In the beginning I researched the subjects beforehand. In blocks of thirty days I made a subject list for the upcoming period. The advantage of this is that the subject is fixed and does not lead to a discussion, but in the end you can still go in any direction with a subject, so that you still lose time figuring out what exactly you want with the subject. Today I let the subject depend on what happened to me that day. Every day you experience things that can all lead to a nice subject. If there is an unexpected boring day, just like with the list, you can delve into what to do. And which also helps, I just ask the people around me. They often know how to name the most beautiful subjects.