When I started this abstract design the other day, I was in the mindset of trying to create, visually, the feeling of an infinite number of creepy tendrils reaching for you from all directions. Claustrophobia, as well. So far, I think a bit of those feelings attached to it. Honestly, the “tendrils” idea kind of came from a strange thought. Imagine you knew that they were arms and hands, attached to angry people, reaching for you. Trying to grab you and pull you god knows where. But you close your eyes and so what you feel tugging at your clothes and limbs suddenly feels like it could be anything. Anything “tendril” like. It’s a strange thought, and I don’t often go into what my thought process really is when I start my drawings, but I thought I would share that for once.

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There’s nothing all that exciting going on today. The picture I’m working on is coming along nicely, but it’s certainly not especially interesting as I already know what it’s going to look like tomorrow. I’ll probably get half of the right side finished! I’m still trying to figure out a way to add something special to this picture. I guess I kind of like to “paint” myself into a corner, as they say. Start with some simple ideas and try to execute them well, and then just figure it out as I go along. Kind of like writing a novel or any script really. Seems you have some basic ideas to start with, and then as you go along you figure out the characters and what decisions they would make, filling in the plot details as you go.

Alright, question time again! I’m just going to answer one question for today. I have laundry in, and my dishes are soaking, and it’s already getting late in the evening. There’s only three questions left from the list of questions that Crystal posted anyways. Actually, I think I’ll answer one question each day for the next two days. That sounds like a plan.

What draws you to this project?

I may have answered this one a little bit with some of my more rambly answers from the previous questions. But I’ll take a stab at it nonetheless. First off, I’ve done a lot of drawing in my life. It’s kind of been something that I’ve felt really defined me. While I was growing up anyways. Then I stopped as I did more “adult” types of things. Like getting jobs and moving around a lot. Now, I’m at the point in my life where I want to do something special. Something I can feel good about doing. I’m realizing, as I’m going along with this project, that I really love to create things. Whether that be characters, environments, or entire worlds. It’s something I really feel like I need to do. I’m 100% dedicated to figuring out a way where I can make a living creating.

So, a more simple answer would probably be that at first I was drawn to this project for simple reasons. You know, “Let’s try this out because I used to draw a lot. It’ll keep me busy while I have nothing really going on in my life.”. Then it kind of became more important to me. I have to finish what I started, and make it a life changing experience.

I figured it would be a good idea to post today’s drawing progress now, before I spend hours filling in half the image meticulously with black ink. You know, while I can still feel my hand. This is going to take awhile, but I’m actually excited about it! The last few days, after that swamp drawing, I’ve been feeling a bit… off. I think winter is finally getting to me as I haven’t been out much, and I’ve been very tired. I’ve found that I’m sleeping in later and later in the mornings, and I would even go so far as to say, if I look at myself in the third person, it would seem I’m a bit depressed.

Even when I sit back and realize that maybe I’m being impatient about everything (Hurry up Spring! Hurry up money! Hurry up feeling better about stuff and things!), I still feel like everything is moving entirely too slowly. I guess, when I’m feeling sluggish myself, it certainly doesn’t help any. Ah well, it’s January, no matter how I feel or what I do, the next few months will eventually end up behind me and I can perhaps look forward to something more positive. I miss being excited about stuff. You know, beautiful warm (dry!) days, having/making money, doing something new!

At least today I’ve felt a little better as I’m content with today’s drawing. Right away I started using my 0.05mm Micron pen (for the first time! that’s the smallest one I have). It felt pretty good! I didn’t plan anything out, I didn’t hesitate, I just started drawing. The left and right sides of the picture will have a black background, and I’m not sure what will be in the center yet. I’ve tossed around a few ideas while I was drawing the curved figures, but I haven’t settled on anything yet. Maybe there will be nothing in the middle!

Alright, question time! I have like 4 or 5 more questions to answer. Here’s two more for today:

How can you help people?

I don’t believe I’ve ever been told that I “inspire” anyone, but I think that would be… well I don’t know how I’d actually feel. I mean, obviously it would be a positive feeling to be told that you inspire someone. Maybe there would be a lot of disbelief mixed in there too. Anyways, I think that would be a pretty cool way to help someone out.

I guess I have inspired people to do some things before though. My nieces are pretty excellent artists themselves. They’ll probably be famous for their creativity a lot sooner than I’ll be! Oh, also… I remember my cousin Brad, who’s always commenting on my posts here, started a blog of his own several years ago after reading my old movies/TV/video game blog I used to have. He may have only wrote a couple posts, but he found motivation from me. Well, inspiration, I guess.

So, to summarize, I guess the best way I can help people is to inspire them. I would love for more people to make the decision to be creative, and if it’s because of something I did, I think that might be pretty cool.

Why are you taking on a year of creative habits?

Well, when I started reading Crystal Moody’s blog, I, myself, was inspired to take on the challenge, after going through most of my life unsure of the reasoning for why I’m even here. For most of my life I tried desperately to hold onto motivations for goals I cared nothing for. I saw what everyone else was doing, and I was told what I should be doing, and just went along with it because it was easy to follow along.

I felt the need to do something new and vastly different than how I’ve spent my time previously. “This Crystal chick wasn’t doing what was easy! She was trying to do something interesting.” She was promising a new piece of artwork, and a blog post, every single day. I put my time in drawing crazy creatures and such while I was growing up, and I had a blog for a few years too, so I could write decent enough! It was making too much sense for me to do this year of creative habits thing.

As I’ve mentioned, I used to be good at drawing, and spent most of my childhood and teen years drawing on whatever I could find. I figured it would be fun to see how much I’ve forgotten over time. So I dropped everything and make the decision to take this challenge full on. Hell, it’s not like I have any other obligations going on. And now I feel like I have a purpose. I really don’t know precisely what’s going to happen from here on out into my future, but it’s definitely going to be revolving around my creativity. This creative habit project will be the most important decision I’ve ever made.

Well, that went better than I thought it would. I began my “gift exchange” project where people help support me and my daily creative habit, and I mail them personalized artwork. I’m already up to $60 on my Paypal account. I have some of the most amazing fans, I tell you. And I have two drawings to make and send away.

I’m going to figure out a way to add a “Wall of Supporters” somewhere on my website. Maybe I’ll find a spot on my Facebook fan page as well. I have a few ideas, but I’m not quite sure how I’ll be executing them just yet. More info will be available soon!

Hello! Super late post tonight. I was thinking of just posting this and then sharing it tomorrow. I dunno, I’m pretty tired. That being said, I do have a few things to talk about. First off, I’m still loving these design things. I think I could do these forever. Don’t worry though, I’ll move on. Eventually.

Today was a special day as I hit an important milestone. Well, maybe not a milestone, but for me personally it was an important day as I created a new page on my Facebook fan page as well as on this website. In the top right you’ll see a “Leave Tip” tab. On my Facebook fan page there’s a tab as well as an app button on the left side of the main artist profile page. I’ve spent a good deal of time researching how to go about asking for people’s hard-earned money in the best and most respectful way possible. Was this a normal thing to do? Apparently yes. As I see it all the time on many different types of websites. It’s often referred to as a “donate” button, but I definitely don’t want to think of it as a donation. I like to consider it a gift exchange.

How is it a gift exchange? For awhile I was trying to figure out how to sell my artwork, or make some kind of a living, through my work. I’ve been considering adding a donate button for a few months now, but it never felt right. I don’t want to do anything, ever, if I don’t feel 100% positive about it. I don’t want charity, I want to give people something in return. However, finding anyone out there, especially complete strangers, who want to buy any of my artwork just seemed incredibly daunting. It’ll no doubt be something I’ll try to achieve later in life, but for now, I was open to fresh ideas on how to go about making money doing what I love to do. My best friend, who lives out in the Yukon, suggested that rather than simply receiving donations, think of it as a gift exchange. They send you money to help you continue with your work, while you send them a personalized drawing in the mail.

Her idea kinda blew my mind. It makes perfect sense. I’m still unsure whether I’ll even receive a single “gift”, but the fact that they pay money to help me out, and I send them something, physically, in return as a thank you, just absolutely flips all the negative feelings I had about the whole thing. I’ll also be mentioning them (with their permission, of course) in blog posts and on Facebook, whenever I receive a gift. It’s always nice to get a little recognition when you help someone out like this. It’s a fantastic idea, and I’m not really sure if it’s been done before. I certainly haven’t heard of anything like this. It’s exciting.

Hmm… just entertaining a funny thought here, but what if I get an insane amount of donations. I mean, there aren’t many people that even know about this website, so that’s next to impossible. But I just mean… how busy will I be drawing and sending out all those pictures?