Whew! 100 Days Done!

Soap Dispenser fantasizes about operating heavy machinery.

I’ve done quite a few drawing challenges during the past decade. Other than my pandemic hand series, which I did not know was going to last 407 days when I began, most have lasted no more than InkTober’s 31 days. A hundred days – more than three months – is substantial, but I didn’t think it would be as difficult as it was! Now I know that 100 days is a dang long time, and if I ever do it again, I’m going to think more carefully before I commit to it!

Faucet Handle thought the vintage rain bonnet would be cool,
but now she realizes that it would help if she had a chin.

Despite my moaning and groaning throughout, I am now very happy and pleased that I completed the 100 Day Project. Although developing my imaginative and memory-based drawing skills has been a desire for more than a year, I know I would not have committed to serious practice of those skills without this project. It is satisfying to have grown my confidence in my ability to draw from my head.

During the first month or so when I was focusing on developing my visual memory, it was frustrating and discouraging not to see more progress day to day. But on Day 45 when I made a significant breakthrough, I realized I had been making progress all along, even if it wasn’t always apparent. That’s when I made the switch to pure imaginative drawing instead of memory, and it became fun.

Perhaps “fun” is an overstatement: On many, many days, I nearly quit simply because I couldn’t think of an idea, or if I had an idea, it was too complicated to draw. And yet somehow I managed to pull something out of my head each day. My respect and admiration for daily cartoonists grew immensely as I understood the relentless pressure of coming up with a creative idea every single day.

When she's bored, Scissors experiments with makeup.
She especially likes lash extensions.

Just as important, while I have always appreciated drawing from observation, I feel that way more than ever now. No matter how challenging a subject might be, it’s still easier to draw it from sight than from my head!

In a recent post, Art vs. Entropy busts the myth that “true” artists can simply imagine anything they want to in their minds and then plop that image onto paper or canvas. There may be some artists who can make it look as if they are doing that, but I have no doubt that many, many years of practice and experience are behind that so-called “natural talent.” The past 100 days have certainly shown me that it takes a lot longer than 100 days!

Thanks for coming along on my (overlong) journey! To see all my 100-Day sketches with one click, see this Flickr album.

When Faucet Handle is feeling blue, she puts on '80s dance music.
Nothing like shakin' your booty to put you in a better mood.

Soap Dispenser can't imagine what life was like before public libraries were invented.

Faucet Handle really gets into mashing down her over-stuffed recycle bin.

When her bike goes too slowly, Faucet Handle gives a tire a swift kick because that seems to work with cars.

When she's feeling stressed, Scissors
finds a quiet place to hang out and meditate.

This was the only time I tried writing the caption directly
on the image. 

Party time! Soap Dispenser, Faucet Handle and Scissors are celebrating the last day of The100 Day Project so that they can go back to living their normal lives without being Instagrammed every day!