Achievement unlocked! Today I completed my "100 Birds" project that I've been working on since the beginning of summer.
I'll be making greeting cards, merch, bookmarks, notepads, and potentially a coffee table book. I already have a 2024 Art Calendar out.
I did this project based on Jake's "100 Things" advice, and I'm really happy with it! Each bird took between 1.5-3 hours to draw and paint in Procreate, and many of them I did for my livestreams. I learned a lot and my process evolved and got more specific, regular, and repeatable as I went on. I'm now much more familiar with how to achieve what I want.
I'd recommend the "100 Things" experience for everyone. This was the second time I tried to accomplish it, having failed at 70-something (?) with a series of "Hands of Family & Friends" that I just got too bored with... Birds had more variety and I felt I had the opportunity to be much more expressive, and I'd finally developed the drive (need?) to really want to get at least one set of something actually done. This worked out for me.
I've been able to give the birds away as phone wallpapers on my social media accounts as they're completed, as well as advertise the available prints further down the road, so each image has paid off twice. Lots of adjusting for print applications, though, so if you do something that has a lot of light/dark contrast and intense dark color, be aware you're going to have to adjust things a lot.
Whew! Onward!
