050: A Community, If You Can Keep It.
Wherein we discuss the idea of community for artists, AND a sneak peek at the coming notebooks.
Welcome to week 50 of the Draw or Die Newsletter for Visual Storytellers.
This past Tuesday was the final day of the 28 Day Drawing Challenge! What a fun month. I encourage everyone to go check the hashtag #drawordieclub on instagram to see all the amazing art and effort that went on in February. We now have over 5900 pieces of art put out into the world (on that platform alone!)
There is NO FAILURE!!!
I’ve been getting messages through the month of artists who feel bad or are apologizing for not doing the prompts or only doing a few. Stop that! There is no failure! There is no winning or losing in this “club”.
To echo one of my favorite quotes:
Ever tried?
Ever Failed?
No Matter.
Try Again.
Fail Again.
Fail Better.
- Samuel Beckett
I hope that at the very least it’s inspiring to you! You know there are several artists I talked with who thought thought they wouldn’t be able to finish, and some who are still just having fun getting caught up.
🔥 ✏️ HERE’S A TINY CHALLENGE FOR YOU….
Go back and draw YOUR version of one of the ones you see on Instagram. If you do? Send it to me! Use the hashtag #drawordieclub and tag the original artist and start a conversation!
“A Community, if You Can Keep It.”
I’ve been seeing this word “community” pop up naturally when referring to our little group. It’s been fun to watch friendships form. And I see you out there commenting on each others art and supporting each other. Friendships forming. How great is that?
Most artists are introverted by nature. Or shy.
But I’ve observed that even the most private or quiet artists open up when among or talking to other artists. We share some kind of bond as artists.
We all know the same struggles.
No matter the level we are on in our creative journey.
We really ARE all in this together.
Can you feel that?
I can.
Up until today our little club’s “marching orders” have been:
I want you to STAY ENCOURAGED out there.
I want to encourage you to DRAW EVERY DAY.
And now I want to add one more… I want you to MAKE NEW ART FRIENDS!
A great place to do that is over in the DISCORD community. https://discord.gg/FJJSWzWpWE . Post your art there. Ask about tools. Talk about your feelings.
I must admit, I really suck at Discord, at least checking in as often. I try to limit my apps that “notify” me. But it’s so nice to dip into that community and see the regular names in there. You’ll see Barry, Miriam, Charlie, Sockrocko, Sean and more sharing art. Sean just shared his Canvas Lamp setup recently.
I’ll do better at swinging by and contributing! Join here, it’s free.
“What’s Next?”
Behind the scenes we’ve been working on our own branded notebooks. A 3.5x5 inch version and a wallet size! We’re working with a local printer to make these, mainly because we wanted to support local printers here in the USA.
Originally I had planned for these to be available during February, but we did a lot of testing back and forth for cover stock and the paper we chose has to be special ordered. Good news is, the order is in and we should have them in a couple weeks! I’ll also try to go take some “in progress” shots at the printer.
A PRE-LAUNCH SPECIAL?
All annual paid subscribers of the “draw every day” prompts will receive a set of 2 large and 1 small. If you’re a $5 a month member and enjoying that, consider upgrading to the annual and you get one month free, AND a set of these notebooks when they land!
The DAILY email comes at 5am every Monday-Saturday with a daily drawing challenge and motivational notes, quotes and thoughts from me as I continue my art journey.
It’s a great way to support the club!
I invest every dime back into cool things like the sketchbooks and some OTHER surprises coming soon.
ONE MORE THING…
In tomorrow’s daily e-mail, I’m bringing back my old “BEFORE COFFEE” daily blog. Where beyond the motivational side, I’ll also take you behind the scenes and thinking on the new project I’m developing for creators and share some previews there to checkout and get feedback.
You can try it out for 7 days free if you’re unsure.
https://www.drawordie.club/tryfree
The Weekly Drawing CHALLENGE!
FOOD… BUT IT’S ALIVE!
TAG your drawing #drawordieclub on the socials of your choice so we can find each other!
Video Re-Cap!
Well, in case you missed last week’s post or the Thursday night podcast, I talked more about quitting my day job and what’s next for me…
I’ll finalize the new video schedule soon, but more than likely Wednesday night at 8pm EST this coming week, as I’ll be on the road on Thursday. It’s been fun to do the surprise giveaways during the livestream. A special thanks for hanging out live! Are you subscribed to the Youtube channel?
Stay encouraged out there, and draw every day!!!
☠️ Draw or Die MERCH!
✏️ DIGITAL TOOLS FOR ARTISTS: Custom Brushes, Templates & Prompts
▶️ DRAW or DIE on YOUTUBE (Tutorials & more)
Tell me those wallet-sized sketchpads are sized for the dango pen wallet.