Thursday, May 01, 2008

21 days creative exercise: Days 1-5

Some lovely illustrator-blogsters, Alicia and Gina, have started up a 21 day creative exercise. The premise is it takes 21 days to form a new habit and the goal is to get (at least) 15 minutes of creative time into each day.

Others are focussing mainly on trying new things and pushing boundaries. For me, I am pretty busy at the moment and don't feel like I have the headspace to push myself into new realms, so I am approaching this a bit differently. I am just hoping to get into the habit of sketching every day, and getting more whimsy into my art. I'm hoping that at the end of these 21 days I can have a catalogue of ideas I can refer back to as ideas for bigger paintings. (I also hope to perhaps make a few ATCs along the way as Diana is doing, but I'm not holding myself to that one.)

So... this is the 5th day I've been doing it (just haven't had time to post yet!), here we go:


DAY 1: I started off just sketching out a realisation I had that teapots look like elephants (or vice versa) - not sure where that idea is going yet but it's good to get it down on paper.
Then moved on to birds. I don't like the way I draw birds so trying to work that out a bit more.
DAY 2: Fish! Just having fun. Some from my head, some looking at pictures. I wrote down things next to them that might spark 'whimsy'!
DAY 3: Ever since I did this illustration I have wanted to elaborate on it - possibly create a line of greeting cards someday. For the moment I have some good friends who are having a baby soon so I thought I'd do a card for them.
DAY 4: Doing some sketches for Illustration Friday's "Wrinkle" - I hope I can get this done in time! not sure!
DAY 5: Just feeling really good today - had a productive day and a few nice emails, conversations with friends that have made me fly. so trying to capture that feeling....

I'll try to post my 15 minutes of creativeness a bit more regularly! And don't forget to check out all the other amazing illustrators doing it too - check Alicia's blog - she's got them all linked on her sidebar. Thanks Alicia and Gina!

11 comments:

Unknown said...

wonderful sketches...I love the trees and the elephants...I just doodles some elephants last night too...what fun!

Tom Barrett said...

All good stuff. The trees are a great card idea; definitely something to explore further.

Alicia Padrón said...

I love seeing all this Kim! The elephants are way too cute, as well as your birds.. I particularly love the one with the scarf. And you look so happy flying on top of the bird!! Adore your sketches! :o)

MayY . C 五月媽媽 said...

this is great, I too just sketch an illo with rabbit flying high with balloons, in coloring progress.. apparently, we all really liking flying high!
So many good illustrations..(bear with my English)

Anonymous said...

I've been sketching mostly too, and trying to get a bit looser and more confident. I love seeing sketches, so this is a treat. The one with the birds and the elephants are my favorites. And your last one, with you so happy made me feel happy for you too!

RyanLoghry said...

I really like the elephants Kim. Very stylized, and cute.

Cynthia DiBlasi - Fine Art said...

Great job lil' Kimmie! I know it's hard to push beyond your boundaries, but you can do it! Exploring beyond our limits is what makes a fabulous artist. And your work is fabulous!

lil kim said...

Thank you everybody! This is going to be a great journey over the next few weeks, I'm glad I get to share it all with you - i hope to have time to work on that elephant tonight before time runs out on this week's IF!

Anonymous said...

Good stuff Kim! The series of trees is great (and a good card line idea, especially the way you've done it on kraft paper). The girl on bird is adorable too!

mushroommeadows said...

very cute drawings!!

Paige Keiser said...

These sketches are wonderful! I never seem to like my own sketches, but your are inspiring. Makes me want to try again.