The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a free global art project that takes place every year online www.the100dayproject.org. The idea is to commit to 100 days of creativity. It can be anything from drawing, to crocheting, to jewelry making. You simply create, document your progress, and share it online. Thousands of people from all around the world participate.

This year, it began on February 22 and ended June 1st, though I ended on June 2nd because I mislabeled day 85 and did it twice. Ha ha. I posted my sketches every day on my Instagram account if you are interested in seeing all of them. I'll just post a few highlights here. If you are thinking you might want to participate next year, here are my thoughts.

After much anticipation, the project started. I was excited and ready to take on the challenge. How hard could it be? I love sketching and do it almost every day anyway, so this would be a piece of cake... Day 2 was a different story. I put it off, got busy with other stuff, and told myself "I'll do it in a little bit."

As bedtime started getting closer and closer, I had no idea what to sketch. The blank page was fierce. I was disappointed in myself in waiting so long and all of the negative thoughts began to come. "You're not good at commitment. You'll never stick with it. You should just quit now." But I didn't want to quit, I mean, I had barely started. So I took a tip from an artist I admire, Koosje Koene, and made a negative space sketch of my keys. Phew, it was done.

After the first couple days, I was getting into the routine of daily sketching. I sketched on site at an event I attended, made sketches from photographs, and participated in online workshops. My sketchbook was filling up, page after page.

On day 53, I had to attend jury duty. I brought my sketchbook with a small water brush pen and my travel palette from Art Toolkit. As I sat elbow to elbow with everyone else waiting to be selected or dismissed, I pulled out my pen and began sketching.

This was my first time sketching so close to strangers and I was a little nervous, but about half way through, my seat mates said "wow, that looks really good." That helped me feel at ease and upon finishing, I was very happy with my drawing.

Daily sketching was really becoming part of my life. I thought about it all the time. I sketched through a cold and a back injury, and many days, I sketched late at night before I could sleep. Some days my drawings were more complicated and detailed, and sometimes they were only a smidge better than a stick figure, but I kept showing up anyway. I was getting so close to the finish line that the momentum kept me going.

I completed the project with a sketch from a photograph that my sister had taken on her recent vacation. It feels so good to actually complete this goal. 100 days of consistency is not easy. Several times I thought of giving up but I kept going and I'm so glad I did.

Would I do it again? Hmm... maybe? I think the hardest part was knowing I had to post it on Instagram every day and wanting every sketch to be good enough for others to see. But posting also kept me accountable. I had several people commenting and following along on my journey and I didn't want to disappoint them.

I hope if you look back at all of my 100 days, you see the good and the bad, and know that most people don't make perfect art every single day. Social media is filled with perfect posts. Most people don't want to share the ugly ones.

Your sketchbook is for you. I would definitely encourage you to sketch every day. It does wonders for your stress level and mental health. But you don't have to share it. It doesn't matter if you mess up or don't finish a sketch. What matters is that you enjoy the process. And I bet, when you look back through your completed sketchbook, you'll be pretty proud of yourself and you'll like your sketches even more than when you made them.