Dragon-A-Day Online: Day 376

Today is the 1000th day since I have started trying to draw a dragon-a-day, every day. While the number sounds impressive, the fact that it’s only 2.739(etc) years is not as much, at least not to me.

Still, it’s something. Between September 15th 2009 and now, I have filled 9 sketchbooks and also made a smallish pile of sketches on paper.

Looking back, I guess I am actually kind of impressed by this, as it’s the only thing that I’ve been able to make myself do just about every day, despite my mood or other external stimuli.

I can be too lazy to work out, there sometimes might not be any reasonably fresh, edible vegetable matter in the apartment or on my plate, I might be too unmotivated to work on my actual portfolio (though I suppose the argument could be made that this is a portfolio of sorts), or any of a number of other things that I ought/mean to be doing on a regular basis, but GODDAMNIT I WILL DRAW THIS DRAGON EVEN IF I HAVE TO STAY UP UNTIL THE SUN RISES.

I guess what I’m trying to say is despite my fascination with commercial art and my desire to be a part of that milieu, over the last 1,000 days, I have been making Art for its own sake. Unlike a lot of the other pieces that I have done over the years, I didn’t draw any of the dragons here explicitly to impress a potential client or to add something to my apparent repertoire; I drew dragons because I wanted to, or even that I needed to. Posting them online seemed like “the correct thing to do,” and in some cases, it helped keep me going, but I think that I might have done so in either case, though I definitely feel that I’ve benefited from the sporadic conversation that’s come up from time to time about my design choices.

Or something. That having been said, today doesn’t feel like a huge accomplishment, but nonetheless, I am pleased with coming this far, despite what else I might say.

For all the fuss and bother I’ve been making about 1,000 days, you’d think that I’d have had some sort of retrospective in mind.

Naturally, I don’t. Truthfully, it feels like any other day, possibly because my other obligations have made it [today] more than a little obnoxious.

Nevertheless, happy 1,000 y’all.

Here’s to another 1,000 days.

EDIT: Not that it really matters, but this is the 555th post, as well. o_0