52 weeks

For years now I've been banging on about getting back into a more regular routine of creating art, primarily illustration. I've periodically picked up my pens to do a bit of illustration but these occasions are few and far between.

The quiet periods is partly (and probably mainly) down to laziness on my part but I've come to realise a lot of it comes down to not having a goal. Back when I was at college I was working to project briefs, in my personal time I was always aiming to write and draw comics with the hope of self-publishing them. Nowadays, I just aimlessly doodle with no end point. So really, it comes down to setting myself projects with some clear objectives on which I can focus my thoughts.

With that, I've decided to set myself a challenge. I'm going to produce a piece of work every week for a year. Seven days is a long time to create a piece of work but within each period I'll be forced to think more creatively and also will get me back into the habit of exploring different mediums of art. I've never been good with a paint brush but that never stopped me from trying in college so I plan to do the same here. I'm not going to limit my options of style or medium so some may be pencil drawings, others ink paintings. The only limitation I'm placing is that all the work must be hand-made. The computer can only be used to assist the project.

The subject matter will vary depending on my mood at the time but for the first few weeks at least I'll be sticking to film themed art work. I may find this becomes a recurring theme throughout the project but I will make a conscious effort to change it up a bit from time to time.

I'm hoping to come out with a set of 52 final pieces that will be good enough that I can frame them, put them up in our house or perhaps give them as gifts or sell them. Basically produce a body of work I'm proud to show.

I'll be doing a bit of rejigging of this site on the run up to Christmas to accommodate a section for updating progress on this project. So from here, we'll see how this goes...