Do Art Every Day: The Daily Art Projects
Art by Brandy Masch
I've been noticing in my various social media feeds that there is a huge daily art project movement by artists to create art projects where, for a period of time, they create and share a new piece of art everyday. Generally these tend to be small works that are built around a theme. These projects are a really healthy way to generate excitement and interest in your work. You may do it for a month a year or anywhere in between depending on other work that you have going on and how much time you dedicate to daily work.
Another benefit of working this way is that it helps people understand your work, your occupation as an artist, and ultimately it becomes easier for them to talk about you and your work with others. Basically you are creating context for your work by creating more of it on a regular basis but in a way that is still manageable for you.
Here's an example for you to check out and I hope that it's helpful if you are considering a project like this in your future : ) Brandy Masch is a fabulous canadian artist who is part way through a daily art project where she is illustrating on a few different themes. She started with illustrating candy and now she is illustrating each letter of the alphabet.
Art by Brandy Masch
Art by Brandy Masch
You will need to consider the following factors when outlining your daily art project:
Time
How long will it take you to make each piece and when can you fit that into your daily schedule?
For example you might choose to create each piece after dinner every day. Be realistic! Don't set out to create a complex masterpiece each day unless you really have the time to complete it. Also how long will you be making art every day? A month? Year? If you are clear about this from the beginning then people will understand and encourage you in your process.
Space
Where will you create your project - it is great if you can have a station set up in your home or studio so that you aren't spending to much time pulling out materials and setting up your work space.
You might consider a bulletin board or tacking reference materials to the wall.
Material
Prepare all your surfaces in advance. That way you aren't wasting time on prep. For example, if you are working on small canvases for a month - make sure you have your 30 surfaces primed and ready to go. Or if you are working on small paper pieces you may need to do a batch of paper cutting.
Theme
Choose a theme, or perhaps more than one theme. Brandy is doing art every day for an entire year so I'm not surprised that she will be choosing different themes to work on - otherwise she might get bored!
Social Media & Sharing
How will you share your daily progress with your friends and fans? You can use any social media but I find that Instagram is great for this as well as Facebook and Google+.
This sketch book has a space for a small drawing for each day of the year:
You could have some fun with that right? Keeping a book of your daily art project for a year is a nice challenge and might just bring out some interesting ideas that you end up using for other projects. Artist Kirbee Lawler has been creating ultra cute drawings in her One Sketch A Day Visual Journal and publishing them to instagram. This is one of her drawings inside this book:
