Month one of drawing daily #todaysdoodle

One of my goals for this year was to draw every day. In order to encourage this goal I decided to jump in on #todaysdoodle, a hashtag that a number of other sketchers and graphic artists use to get some quick practice in and share for others to enjoy.

In anticipation of this I bought myself a Kikki.K 365 Journal. I love Kikki.K, the size was good and the pages are nice and plain. It’s been pretty great for the task, the only draw back being some bleed through which means I am limited in how I can use certain pens and markers. I feel like the constraints are part of the fun in the task.

The first week or so was pretty easy. I was on holidays, so there was no trouble finding the time. When I started back at work, I had to make more of a concerted effort, with my book strategically placed so there was no way I would miss it before going to bed.

My weapon of choice for the first month was Posca paint markers. I love the smooth finish they give, and aside from one or two problem colours they don’t bleed through the paper. I was able to experiment with some lovely effects and colour combinations. In order to keep things interesting and challenging I have switched medium and will use graphite pencil for the month of February.

My biggest take out from this month is that sometimes the way to creativity is by imposing your own constraints. My self imposed constraints of paper size/type, time-frame and marker somehow made it easier to think of ideas of things to draw and encouraged me to get creative with different approaches to styles.

Want to see my first month of drawings? Check out the slideshow.