Time to Read: ~2 min
It wasn't a grand New Year's Eve pronouncement, or long-considered project. It started January 1st, when I picked up a flair pen and drew a cupcake in a seldom-used pad with the form factor of a detective's notebook.
I thought it was kind of cool, and thumbed through the remainder of pages in the pad. All blank. In my office, I had two more refill pads. What if I drew something, anything, each day of the year? Certainly, that could evolve into something interesting.
At the end of January, I had 31 sketches of a variety of things, concrete and abstract. I put it to a vote, and when the poll closed, the close voting had a sketch of a ski boot edging out the others. Here's my creative plan: I call it "slow improv". The coolest part is the role you all play in this creation.
Slow Improv: 2016 Edition
- Each month, you'll choose the winner of the sketches I draw that month
- I'll do a vector-based rendering of that sketch, and use that refined final product as the inspiration for – and title image of – a chapter of the story
Story? Yes! I'm going to write a chapter of a story each month, inspired by the chosen sketch. I'm not sure what I'll do with the final product, but it'll be something cool, I assure you. I will add each month's story here when it's completed, and as with any improv, I have no master plan for the story. It'll evolve as I draw, you choose, and the world goes on all around us. We'll see where we end up!
The Drawings
The Stories
- January (Ski Boot) Chapter 1: Headwall
- February (Cheese) Chapter 2: Darkness
- March (Candle) Chapter 3: Illumination
- April (Pasta): Chapter 4: Pasta No More
- May (Fish): Chapter 5: School of Thought
- June (Boat): Chapter 6: Lila Jane
- July (Picnic): Chapter 7: The Picnic
- August (School Bus): Chapter 8: Maternal Me
- September (Heart): Chapter 9: Awakening
- October (Music): Chapter: 10: Samuel
- November: Chapter 11: The Big Vote
- December: Chapter 12: Sweet Dreams
Follow Along and Join the Journey
If you want to follow along with my daily posts, you can follow @scottpdawson on Twitter, and see the full feed of sketches, which I tag with #365daydraw. I'll announce the monthly poll several times on Facebook and Twitter, and keep it open a week. You can also subscribe to this blog's updates on this page to get notified when I post chapters. Thank you for being a part of this creative experiment!
Update: January 2017
Well, it's all over. I've drawn for a year and told the stories. Thank you for following along. Please do read my project recap and poke around the app to see a month at a time, search the entire work and read the stories.