‘TANK’

from the archives.

Hello all, I’m still so over the moon with the response that Drawing A Day has got and I want to thank you all again for the amazing comments.

I thought that I would take the time to answer some of the questions you have been asking over the past few days and fill you in with the developments since the project ended last Thursday (which actually seems like ages ago!).

So, there are going to be some ‘Drawing A Day’ exhibitions. The first one will take place in my hometown of Bedford in August (info on actual dates will follow soon). I am organising this with a lovely local arts and events organisation called ‘We Are Bedford’. I can’t wait for this. I think that it is going to be a right old spectacle seeing all 365 drawings framed and plastering the walls of a really cool space close to the town centre.

I will then be exhibiting the drawings in galleries in Sheffield, London and other places. Also, the great art/music/film centre PROJEKTOR in Hamburg is also organising something. None of these shows have been nailed down yet or have dates but I will let you know as soon as I know.

A few of you have also asked about buying the original drawings. Well, at the exhibitions I will be holding auctions where you can bid on each drawing. After the exhibitions I will then hold on-line auctions. I will also be making A4 and A3 prints of the drawings which you should be able to buy at the exhibitions and on-line. Again I will keep you posted on when and how much.

The question I have been probably asked the most throughout the ‘Drawing A Day’ project is if I am going to put them all into a book for people to buy. This is something that I would love to do and I am looking into it. (I think that ‘The Tattooed Strong Man’ should be the cover as well. x)

A couple of you have also asked whether I think that the project has been worth it. In all honesty it was a big commitment and required a lot of my time. I did panic sometimes wondering how I was going to fit my drawing into my day and I did worry when a drawing wasn’t that good. I got through a lot of pens, pencil crayons, paints, sketcbooks and hard drive space.

But overall I have absolutely loved doing the project. I would recommend it to anyone. Drawing is the thing that I enjoy doing the most. It never feels like work or a chore.

You could say that the project has opened doors for me. I have had a few commissions bought about directly because of the project and I now have a pretty good portfolio to show to agencies and art directors. It has also attracted a lot of you lovely people to my Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages (before the project I think that I had about 70 followers on Facebook).

But the best thing is that I feel that I have developed as an illustrator. I have learnt so much from doing the project. I have learnt about what I’m good at drawing and what I’m bad at drawing. I experimented with new techniques and explored a lot of new ideas.

I will write a proper structured Evaluation of the whole project soon. But the next step for me is to finish this coming weeks ‘Freak Of The Week’ for Creaturemag. I have a few commissions to get working on (exciting ones too!) and it wont be long until the new suggestions for the August edition of ‘The Bedford Clanger’ come in (see note below).

Oh, and actually there are a few drawings still missing from ‘Drawing A Day’. My sketchbook that I left on a plane was never actually found. So, the drawings from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of January are…well, who knows where (I promise that I did draw them though and that they do exist somewhere). To make up for this I have decided to draw 3 new drawings to go up at the exhibitions in their place.

So, yeah…..lots to organise and to think about.

Phew, what a year… I got married, I went to New York for the first time, I went to Italy, I helped my students get into university, I went for walks, I worked, I drank coffee, I spent the summer in a recording studio, I ate too much bread, I went to the dentist, I gigged, I paddled, I listened to music and I drew a drawing a day for every day of the year.

I’m glad that I shared them with you all. X

NOTE: For more info on ‘We Are Bedford’ go here: http://wearebedford.co.uk For more info on PROJEKTOR go here: http://projektor-hamburg.blogspot.com If you would like to suggest a subject for me to draw in ‘The Bedford Clanger’ newspaper please send them here: thebedfordclanger@gmail.com