Daily Dragon #1: Cerulean Kite

Okay, okay, so I was filling the pans in a new watercolor palette today so “cerulean” is probably from my subconscious fretting over if they’re dry enough to close up yet.

Wait. I’m getting ahead of myself.

What I’m Up To

This post is intended to be the first in a series of daily dragon sketches or illustrations. I plan on doing one of these a day, every day, without fail, for a year. That means that the last daily dragon will show up on April 30th of 2011. I’m not the first artist online to commit to this kind of thing – perhaps the best example is The Daily Monster (which is absolutely worth your time to investigate.) I won’t be the last to take a shot at the something-something daily for a year exercise. It’s a good way to keep your creative brain in good trim.

Why?

Because I haven’t been finishing enough artwork lately. Because it’s been harder than ever before for me to find time to make and complete art. Because I like drawing and sketching, but they’re no good in a vacuum.

For another thing, I’ve noticed that I have been getting way too precious with my work. It doesn’t do any good to spend hours agonizing over every little thing if a three-hour project ends up taking a week. I’m a control freak, and digital art really allows me to revel in that…and it’s taking a toll on my work. I need to let go and just bang some stuff out. Doing one every day means time is of the essence, and I won’t be able to get too wrapped up in any one piece.

As it should be.

Why dragons? They’re kinda my thing. I’ve been drawing them since I could hold a pencil, I like them, and they’re a lot of fun. I felt like I ought to have a specific topic, but was a little too scared to man up and choose something too specific like “bowls of fruit.” I wanted a subject that could be readily adapted to a sense of whimsy, awe, horror, or even affection without seeming to jar a viewer paging from one image to the next.

Dragons have this really great elemental aspect to them: they’re a basic part of folklore, in some sense or other, worldwide. They represent natural forces, frightening creatures, a sense of mystery, and our own fear of the unknown and the wild. Here there be dragons. It’s fascinating to me, always has been.

The RULES:

This being an exercise, I’ve decided to set some ground rules, much as I would when managing any project.

1. I will draw, sketch, paint, doodle, or sculpt (maybe) some rendition or other of a dragon every day from May 1, 2010 to April 30, 2011. No breaks or exceptions. I make no guarantees as to quality. The completed artwork will be posted on this site daily.
2. Each rendering is subject to a time limit: I have 30 minutes from start to finish, give or take a couple minutes as necessary. If I choose to revisit a piece after the time limit is up, I may add something (for instance, color) but I may not “clean it up a little” or any such thing. The piece stands, good or bad.
3. Exception: If I’m working on a full-blown painting or larger piece that happens to be dragon-themed, it will appear as the daily dragon on the day it’s completed.
4. No less than 75% of the daily dragons will be completed in physical media, not digital. This means out of 365 dragons, no more than 91 will be digital art.
5. Each dragon in the series must be unique: no drawing the same dragon twice.

There, that should make this adequately difficult. Hooray! Wish me luck, I’m going to need it.

Oh…and if you like this, tell your friends, and for heaven’s sake tell me. I could really use the encouragement and, frankly, knowing that people are coming by daily to look at these will help keep the fire under my keister lit.