In June I attempted the Index Card a Day challenge, and failed miserably. These are two of four cards that I completed in two months. I really struggle with daily challenges. I get excited about the idea of a daily challenge, but have trouble with the execution. I think it’s partially an all or nothing perspective, paired with an unrealistic expectation of perfection. If I miss one day, I consider the entire effort ruined, and have trouble getting back to work. If I make something lousy, I worry that everything I make will be lousy, and I have trouble continuing on. I’m guessing a lot of artists feel this way at one time or another.

I don’t have any answers or tips on dealing with this. It’s something I’m working through right now. I’m doing an okay job of keeping up with class projects, but I’m having trouble pursuing personal work. My sketchbooks have been carried around in my bag untouched for months. I have a giant list of projects I’d like to work on, but don’t ever touch. I know the personal projects will feed into my school projects and help make me a more well rounded artist/designer. I know that the commitment to a daily project starts to snowball after a while.

My goals for September are to blog every day and watch one tutorial on Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. At some point I’ll run out of things to blog about and will pick up that sketchbook and pen again. Maybe tomorrow? For now I’ll end with an article I just read: How to Keep Going When You’re Not Seeing Results (Yet).