If you knew anything about this blog and its origins, you'd know that I was actually inspired by one Duane Keiser and his A Painting a Day blog. I thought it would be totally awesome to do a similar blog, chronicling my drawing a day attempts. Not only did I know that doing one piece of art a day would be the fastest way to gain some fantastic skills, but I also knew that it would be endlessly fascinating to readers. People as a whole tend to like watching other people make themselves uncomfortable, after all.

Unfortunately, I have no self discipline at all. I just can't get myself to do anything, no matter what I do. So although it started as a picture a day, it quickly turned into a picture a week, and totally deteriorated from there into a picture whenever the hell I felt like it. Pretty soon it was a picture once every few months, as I'm sure you can see.

For Christmas, I got a book from my brother-in-law that I've been pining for, called Masterful Color: Vibrant Colored Pencil Paintings Layer by Layer by Arlene Steinberg. Cat's mom told me that she was going to buy it for me, but thought that, heck, I already knew how to use colored pencils; what more could there be to know? That is, until she looked through the book and saw how professional and realistic the images are. I totally agree. The technique is something I'd like to work into my own style. The best part about the book is that it comes with step-by-step lessons and includes line art, so all you have to focus on is the way the colored pencils work.

The first couple of lessons were simply to help you learn about value and the way colors work together, but I did them anyway because I thought I may as well go through the whole book. Besides, it's been so long since I've really done any art, so I figured this was a way to get me into it again. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

The first real lesson was actually really...frightening. I mean, the subject is a bright red tomato, and you start by laying down a TON of green. I mean, I knew in my mind that it would work out just fine, that it would actually be wonderful, but that didn't stop me from totally freaking out when I thought the paper wasn't taking the red when I tried to put it down. But as I continued laying down lighter and lighter red, it just came to life. It was amazing to watch. I'll have to get the flip video I've been eying and totally record the process. And then speed it way up, because watching someone work on a tomato for two hours would be pretty boring.



Right, so, I got off the point there pretty quickly. I got the crazy idea in my head yesterday that, hey, if I just had someone pushing me to do daily art, that might help. But I also need to lose something if I don't do it. I've tried giving myself stuff for completing art, but that doesn't work. If you remember, I don't have any discipline, so even if I don't do the art, I'll give myself the prize anyway. E for effort. So I thought, well, what if I made it so I lost a buck every day I didn't do my art. That way, it would entice the person pushing me to push me (because they'd get the money), and it would make me more willing to actually do what I need to do. I figured that my walk through the colored pencil book would be a good start. Not only would it give me projects to do, but I'd also learn a great deal from them.

Cat's going to be the pusher, and we decided that the money he would get toward a candy fund, because there's nothing that drives me more crazy than the way that man can eat three pounds of gummy bears in two days.

So wish me luck. This should be fun.