thisisCOOLLIKE

Look at you all.
Such lovely, eager faces; clutching at your pens and sketchpads in anticipation for the New Year.
This is just...slightly unbelievable really. Ever since I got a reply back from a rather charming young man called Charlie this project has rocketed beyond my expectations.
I never even had time to clean myself up a bit and introduce myself in an orderly fashion. But now more important things are afoot.
Here are some things included in todays lovely –omgsolong- journal. I do tend to ramble but a lot of its relevant.
-FAQs
-indieVISUAL Awards
I’d just like to say thank you and welcome to all you new recruits! I know its short notice but this project is as simple or complex as you want it to be.
Since this project has grown I’ve got a lot more emails asking me very similar things. I love answering your emails but I feel a bit of a Frequently Asked Questions is in order just to clear some questions up that I had barely even thought about myself. (That’s right Maddy; come across as NICE and organised!)


-When does the project start?
The ‘Official’ Project starts on January the 1st and continues allllll the way to January 1st 2011 (where we’ll have cake and dance around the fire.) IF for any reason (like you FORGET) you do not start on January the 1st don’t give up hope. But as soon as you do start; there’s no going back! I think January can be a bit of a practise month where we’ll all make mistakes together and grow as a community. Hopefully by the end of January we’ll have a sweet rhythm of drawing daily going through our viens!
-Is there a place where I can sign up? Can anyone join?
As the name ‘indieVISUAL’ suggests, it’s a pretty individual (I’m forgetting how to spell that word.)project because it’s your own work with your own flexibility. There is no specific ‘signing up’ method as of yet and certainly no requirements of who can join! As long as you really want to join in and progress in your own art, I think that’s the main thing.
-Can I do something creative instead of conventional drawing? Photography perhaps?
Completely up to you, my friend! I do have to apologise as I am an illustrative person so what makes sense to me is drawing on paper. However if drawing on the computer is where you’re at and you know you could do it every day (the wonder of laptops and things.) then absolutely-positutley go for that. The key to this however is not to go too ambitious; for me things on the computer can take a few hours to look remotely sensible so bare that in mind. You can mix and match with bit of digital/traditional if you like. I’d suggest making a specific folder on your computer for it so all you scanned images can go there too!
Photography is equally as feasible if you’re the type to take your camera everywhere with you! I always enjoy a bit of mixed media (ie drawing over photos and things!) There are NO rules to how or what you put in your day!
-What do I dooooo? ARRGGGH. NAAARGH. BLAAARGH.
Ok, first off; relax and breathe. No one is going to come knocking at your door in the middle of the night DEMANDING that you draw something. If you don’t think you can cope anymore just stop, have a little rest. This isn’t supposed to be an annoying chore you have to do! If anything it’s supposed to be a relaxing experience with which you let your mind think about what’s happened in the day. If you’re the type to read in bed, keep your journal there too so you can take 2 minutes before you go to bed to draw anything from your mind. :] Drawing can be very therapeutic.
-Instead of drawing daily, can I stick a dead possum on my head and call him Larry?
...Yes? But that’s not really what I’m trying to go for here. This refers to all the people who ask me if it’s ok to do something different than what I’m telling them to do. Which makes me LAUGH because I barely have control over my own mind let alone other peoples! OF COURSE you can; I’m just happy that you got inspired to do SOMETHING from seeing this! And who knows; maybe in 2011 it will be YOU that’s at the forefront of some creative project!
-What if I don’t/can’t upload my drawings to the internet every day?
Again, absolutely no obligation to upload EVERY single one of your journal entries every day! That might get a bit of a pain for some of you! In fact, if you feel a day is particularly private then by all means don’t upload it at all! This project is for you and if you want it to be; for you only! As long as you’re DRAWING every day, the benefits will still be yours to plunder!
-Do you have a tumblr account?
I’ve been checking out a pretty swish tumblr pad. Should have it up and running in the new year as lots of you came from there so its only fair I set one up! Obviously Charlie has a link to here on his tumblr so if you need me; I’m only a few clicks away!
-Do you have a YouTube account?
YES!......
.....There’s nothing on it though. SADFACE. So as soon as I figure out why my internet is being a massive twatbucket and fix the upload problem and get some stuff up there I’ll share some indieVISUAL related videos with y’all.
-Are you friends with Charlie? Can I have a lock of his hair?
Until a few days ago, he didn’t know of my existence so that answers both questions really. I’ve obviously been a big fan of his YouTube for a long time but that’s all I am. Now I feel like I owe him one though. Big time. Also, you can buy locks of Charlie’s hair on Ebay here.
-What if my life is so dull I have nothing to draw about?
Yup, lots of you are commenting places with ‘But I’d have nothing to draw!’ BOO-HOCKEY is what I say to that! I’ve always said ‘Creativity thrives on boredom’ that means if it’s an uneventful day; DRAW THAT. Or if you’re a creative soul; draw what you’d rather be doing or your big thoughts of the day! Often my best drawings come from the stupidest thoughts. Take my drawing ‘ZOMGZ’ which involves me drawing Zombies Outside My Green Zoo because that also spells ZOMGZ.



I hope that clears some things up although if you still have some questions, emaiiiiil me at the address above (don’t comment your /questions/ because it’s easier if I reply to you separately.)
NOW some exciting news! Whilst writing down the FAQs, I kept thinking about how the most frequently said thing (FSD...-__-) was ‘I won’t be able to keep it up’, ‘I’ll have given up by end of January’ (*cough*Charlie*cough*) so I was like; that’s true! Lots of people are going to try but only a few would pull through on pure self-motivation. Or even community motivation! So I thought it might be fun to have a few little rewards for some of those who actually get through the entire year! This gives you a tiny bit more incentive to continue through the whole year because not only do you get MUCH better at art; you get some sweet gear too!

So here are a few ideas for indieVISUAL Awards!

-Outstanding Perseverance: For those of you, who really give it a go, persistently put lots of effort in every day even if you’re not happy with your results at first.
-Best Ideas: Innovative and cool ways to present their diary. One for you multi-media types I bet.
-Consistent Amusement: There’s always a funny guy in the pack and if you make us all chuckle, this is up for grabs!
-Outstanding Community Effort: Big efforts to be part of the community and draw in attention!
-Overall Attractiveness: The Beauty Pageant winner. One for you super-skilled artists who make me shiver in me timbers!
-Overall Best Improvement: Drawing stick men now but move onto giant robot awesomeness by December? This one’s for you!
-OVERALL BEST: Not sure if I want to have this one yet. Might just see how it goes.
There are a few others that might be cool but we’ll see how it progresses throughout the year. Most importantly I hope I cover all bases. Even those who don’t think they’re very competent in drawing have a chance to get something if they bring EFFORT to the team.
Here are a few rough ideas of what you can win:
-Coverage! You’ll be WORLD FAMOUS for winning something and everyone will be like YAAAAY, GO YOU! This will happen! ;P
-Drawings! This is either a really cool prize. Or a really shit prize. But if you so wish, I shall draw every winner a drawing of their choice (within legal limits) It will vary on size depending if you win the overall thing, etc etc. Might try and get some other artists together if you’re a fan of people drawing for you!
-Special Gifts of Love! Not promising any HD TVs or nothing but hopefully if I’ve taken enough interest in your journal I SHOULD know quite a bit about what you like and don’t like. My mother is a very good knitter of hats! And I enjoy making charms and t-shirts. There could even be a book or art resource or something. Who knows yet! Time will tell! It’ll be out of my pocket though; so you better make sure you deserve it! ;P
-Certificate! OH WOW. Best Prize of ALL TIME right there!

So hopefully that’s got your creative juices flowing again and you want to get to the end of the year even moooore! For me, the main prize will be the self satisfaction of doing something for a whole year. No pressure on me or anything though right?
...
Meep.
Yes I know this has been a pretty long piece of text to read but it’s important at the early stages to all be on the right track so thank you for all grinning and baring it.
I wish you ALL the best of luck with the start of the New Year! What’s exciting is that we have NO idea what will come our way in 2010, but what is for certain; it’s about to get DRAWN.

(Oh and I’ve got my own catchphrase now: ‘Have fun and keep drawing!’ ...I didn’t say it was a GOOD catchphrase!)
-Maddyx

finalCOUNTDOWN

A hoy hoy.
I hope you all had a good Christmas with all sorts of art-treats to inspire you for the New Year.
Time is running out so the last PUSH for followers of this Project is in order. 12 followers on here and about 20 on my deviantART is a good start and as the year goes on, if more join than it more the merrier! :]
Back to the topic of Christmas!
I requested that you might want to try your hand at practising on Christmas day! Perhaps this swung into action too early but here are the ones so far, if you did one; comment about it and if you wish to –email me your day~!
I’ll be putting them all here:

This is mine. It shows all the things i got and some of my thoughts.

Lori wins extra cool points for being first person to give me there entry!

More on their own little way.

So, everyone got their sketchbooks/diaries/paper ready?!
Here are some ideas of what to draw about for the first week of your New Year!
-Resolutions! Draw them, write them down or comment on your previous years; did you keep ‘em?
-Draw what you were doing at midnight on New Years Day.
-Draw what you think you might be doing in a year’s time.
Hope that’s a little inspiration for those of you who are a little flustered about how to begin. DON’T panic. This is all about the process so if your first day is a little rocky, carry on in full knowledge that this time next year you’ll be brilliant! :3
Just a quick boost for you today; my internet isn’t being my best friend and keeps cutting out on me which gives CERTAIN YouTube Videos a reason to not upload. -____-
Thank you all for your co-op and generally being enthusiastic about the project; means a lot to me!

The wait is almost over!
....BAI.
-Maddyxz

festiveARMADILLOS

Hello fellow armadillos (the greeting is getting there but still may take some time.)

It’s festive-y Christmas time and whilst the most Christmassy thing I’ve done is have a gingerbread latte in Starbucks –being down with the kids and all- I feel like its time to make a Christmas effort with this project. So guess what I’m announcing?! A Christmassy themed mini-project. A festive tester, if you will.
Have I said the word ‘Christmas’ too much? CHRISTMAS.

This will be a small-scale excursion that involves you drawing a mock-up page on Christmas day (25^th of December, and don’t worry if you’re another religion/unreligious, still draw on that day anyway.) If you can find 5 minutes in between the present filled calamity and scrumptious dinner then you can find a time for ANY day of the year right? Plus it will be fun to see what your guys will come up with. Send your pages to the EMAIL ADDRESS and hopefully I’ll get them up on this page before New Year. TRY and actually draw it all on Christmas day because you’ll feel a full sense of satisfaction if you do.

Rules and ideas:

Page size: Whatever you feel comfortable with that you know you can make look good in the time you got. I wouldn’t go any bigger than A4 (I’ll most likely be doing an A5 page) However, if you know that you’re extremely busy then just bring like a post-it note and scribble something at the dinner table.

Content: Think you’re going to be stuck with ideas for what to draw? But so much happens on Christmas! Here’s a few questions you can ask yourself.

-Draw your Christmas presents and annotate it.

-Draw your Christmas Outfit and annotate it.

-Draw your favourite/least favourite thing about your dinner.

-What will you be doing in an hour?-

-Draw an alternative Nativity scene.

-Draw a Christmas Tree decorated with whatever you like.

These are simply ideas. If you think of more imaginative biscuits of awesome or something really bizarre happens on that day, draw that too. Again, don’t want to discriminate against those who don’t celebrate Christmas, I still want to see a day in the life of you!

The sweetest thing about this is that by the end of next year we’ll be able to compare Christmas’! And if you answer the exact same questions it would be awesome to compare the same days right? Right.

So grab a pencil and paper and I’ll see you SOON.

Thank you for your continuing support of the project. I think if people join in the New Year then that’s fine and dandy too but they’ll just have to continue until the same date next year I guess. If as many of us as possible can start on January 1^st, I think it’s a step in the right direction!

The only thing left to say is, from everyone here at indieVisual blogs (who am I kidding, it’s only me...) have a VERY Merry Friday. :]

-Maddyxz

communitySILLYING

Note to the Newbies: New Here? Not sure how you stumbled upon this strange and exotic page of the internet? Clicky click HERE for an explanation for all the scribble.

Hello kittens!
Or should I call you my ‘nibbles of interest’? Perhaps something a little less derogative next time. I’ll keep working on it.
I just thought I’d drop you a line to keep you excited and thinking of our future together. Not that I want to push you into any commitment you don’t want to make.
In this enticing entry you will find:
-Community Speed Dating
-Top 5 ways to Inspire You Silly

I’m really happy this has grabbed some attention (especially you, you’re great.) but we need MORE. Let’s build our own little community! Let’s bake cookies, join hands and sing songs around the campfire. Nothing to lose right?
So as a little warming up exercise, this is a time for COMMUNITY SPEED DATING. This is an easy way to make friends as quickly as Pokémon trainers do.
Simply tell me/us:
Your name:
Your age:
Your location:
Your favourite art style:
(Optional) Your favourite flavour of sandwich:
Simples? I think so!
Fill that out and I can almost SMELL those imaginary peace cookies. Mmm, hypothetical chocolate.

What next on the agenda? OF DREAMS.
Do you think that you might lack motivation for DAILY drawings? Well no fear, citizens. Captain Inspirafun is here (note to self: draw that!). You’ll find out where I scavenge around for inspiration for my art and things that might make drawing every day a little easier.



Something that I’ve been doing for a while is daily checking blogs and journals of all sorts. Mostly film/videogame related ones but recently my friends really got me into some fantastic art blogs and I went out searching for my own. I’d encourage you to do the same! (And tell us of some really interesting ones!) Most of these are updated regularly and I always find them fantastic inspiration for my art work.
Here are my top 3
1: http://www.booooooom.com –A wonderful mixture of talent. If you’re new, its fun to peruse the archives for things you’re interested in. Down the side there’s LOTS of links to other lovely places.
2: http://www.sharesomecandy.com –If you’re not much of a reader and need a quick injection of inspiration. This is fantastic to flick through. Always something bizarre to get your –creative- juices flowing. If you’re interested in one particular artist you can find all their work in links at the side.
3. www.blogspot.com GET SEARCHING. Often, once you find one fantastic blog that inspires you it’ll open up a world of others. This is one I’m not WELL versed in but if you know any, don’t forget to comment. Here’s a few of my favourites. For Patterns! For Fashion!


I was shown this link, by Vicky, a follower of the project, and I think it’s really useful to show you. Click Here
Once you go on Amazon, you’ll find heaps of books for helping someone with something that’s similar to a Visual Journal. It’s all very well looking around for inspirations on the internet but I think if you have something in your hand it makes a real impact. I will be ordering my copy shortly and if you’re tentative to buy anything I’ll do a small review and regurgitate what it says. Or you’ll just have to ask Santa very nicely.
Look at the recommended section further down the page: Here are a few I found that could be useful:Illustrated Life
Artists Journal Sketchbooks
Decorated Journal

(Be aware I’m giving links from the UK Amazon. If you’re from another part of the world; get searching!)
From an illustrative point of view, I also think comics/graphic novels would be a great idea to include in the journal. Check out Amazon for some How-to books. If you’re generally interested in comics and what’s out there, the Forbidden Planet blog is a really great place to collect snippets of comics. Click here to see!


I love deviantArt. It’s where I gained a lot of confidence in my own art which has pushed me forward to put my work out there. It gets some stick for sometimes being a little /too/ nice. But as long as you keep up the art and progress then I see nothing wrong with it. As well as being a super place to weave your way through a friendly art community, its search function is extremely helpful for looking at lots of ways to take one concept. This gives you plenty of different angles to work with which I think is fundamental in art before you chose the one that means most to you. If I’m going to draw a dragon, let’s say, I’ll search for ‘dragon’ and –whilst crying inside a bit at the endless talent- get thoroughly inspired by others. (That doesn’t mean copying though.) Let’s just say deviant Art has been extremely kind to me and check out mine – Mindless Plug Alert Especially check my favourites and supporters though, because there are some fantastic artists to see.
If you have any more art networking site you’re involved in, send me a link to your page! :]


Going back to an earlier point about having things in your hands help you, recently found that my school library just throws away the old Vogue magazines. But in Maddy-world NOTHING gets thrown away and I managed to salvage them. I discovered Vogue is MASSIVELY inspirational, obviously to those interested in fashion but you can find uses for it whoever you are and whatever you do, including graphic design, illustration, photography, collage, fine art etc! It’s such a good resource for getting body proportions and faces right and if you get just ONE good copy next year, I promise you, you’ll find plenty of inspiration.
Of course any fashion/arts magazines can be used for the same reason.
Check out titles like ‘Bizaar’, ‘Jelly’, ‘Dazed and Confused’ and ‘ELLE’


The last one is so simple yet so effective. No matter how much this entry might seem like I’m encouraging staying inside, scouring the internet and stacking your bedside tables with books and magazines galore; the outside world is really where our inspiration can thrive. If you’re stuck for a day of what to draw/do; have a walk to nowhere, go out in your garden or –if you don’t have a garden or are suffering from a sever case of ‘the lazies’- look out the window and have a nose into other peoples’ worlds. You’ll be surprised how fresh air can make everything seem clearer and not enough people do it now-a-days.

Footnote: Twitter is the latest cool thing to be into. It’s hip and down with the kids. MOST of the sites are now involved in tweeting interesting things and it’s a good way to check for updates without having to individually check every site.

I hope this has got you salivating again and remember this should be about YOU. So if you have anything interesting you want to share then comment below. Or you can drop me a line on the spanking new e-mail (no spanking allowed) indievisual@live.co.uk (yes, I made a specific email-let me have my fun!)

I’m hoping, after some business has cleared in my personal life, I can start promoting this full-throttle and explaining a bit more on how to get started. What to do once you get your book. Have you all got your book by the way? Cos you may want to asap so you can start preparing it.
If you’re near a shop called Paperchase (and if you’re not I feel bad for you cos it’s amazing!) and you like brown paper there are some cute little brown books with LOTS of pages that would be kind of ideal for this sort of thing.
That’s all for now folks, don’t forget to keep on spreading the words like butter over warm toast and getting inspired!

(Drawing. As promised. SHABAM)

I'll hopefully be writing more updates soon. Been filming a few things too.
Have a great week everyone!
Happy scribblings,
-Maddyx

callingallARTISTS

Hello and welcome.

ARE YOU AN ARTIST? (a professional, student, 6 year-old with a few broken crayons-whatever!)

I am. I might even be all 3! (Though chances are I’m not.)
And I know how frustrating it is when you have a craving to draw but have no clue what your little mind will vomit from the deep dark abyss of your imagination.
I also noticed, as an artist and general procrastinator extraordinaire, I often find myself in a fluster of unorganisation.
One sudden day, I was just doing my usual thing –eating peanut butter on a spoon and wearing animal hats- when a small light bulb appeared over my head; I should combine ideas.
Try to fit organisation into my art world.

The idea of a Visual Diary tantalized my every desire and so I began to research the idea further. Because I knew that where there’s a seemingly unique idea; there’s a +20 million result page on Google about to prove you wrong. As expected (19 million, if we’re being pernickety) I am not the God-like genius I was hoping to get t-shirts printed for, but all was not lost. I still felt confident that I could spread this fantastic idea amongst others; perhaps bring a few wacky rules of my own. Think of me like a Jesus; he didn’t create Christianity but he sure kicked up a fuss about it. (Comparing myself to Jesus already? Too soon?)

WHAT IS A VISUAL JOURNAL/DIARY/SOAPFEST?

A ‘visual journal’ in this context, is like a sketchbook that you do a small drawing in ever day. It doesn’t have to be fantastic –a scrawling of people with funny facial features on a train journey. Anything goes! I’m trying to keep the description as vague as possible because really this is a project all about YOU. You’ll look back at it and remember all the funny things you did. You also might be surprised at how developed your art has become as drawing every day is really important if you want to improve. As for a Visual Soap Fest? …Ask your mother.

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?

I am here purely as a curious being. I’ll be giving little questions/concepts here and there, themed weeks and hopefully showcasing other peoples –as well as my own- drawings. Of course, you don’t need to follow my rules at all. I am young and mainly in to illustration but don’t get put off by either of those facts; I’d love to see anything anyone comes up with, inspired by this idea.

For now, until the project begins, I’m advertising it to the masses. Getting it into art focused sites and if all things go well….a youtube video? Only a mayhaps.

SOUNDS LIKE MY CUP OF TEA. WHERE TO START?

I won’t be officially starting the project until January 2010 and ‘ending it’ (depending how things go) on December 2010 but by no means does that mean you can’t start right now! If you are interested in being part of it, I’d love to hear from you!

For now, you don’t have to sit their twiddling your thumbs; go out and search for a nice little sketchbook. Don’t worry if it’s not long enough for the whole year (if you do find ones that are, please share because so far mine only goes up to June 15^th!) Once you’ve got your ideal book -mines A6 size so I can fit it snug in a bag when I’m out. I wouldn’t suggest much bigger.- its time to start writing in dates! But more about that later, if I get some nibbles of interest.

Right now, you can help me most by spreading the word! Send links of this to all your creative friends –it’ll be quite cool to compare days and see how each of your friends interprets the day’s events. Do whatever you can to just get the word out there!

Whether you’re reading this on the edge of you seat, crying in anticipation of the beauty to come or you’re sipping espresso, shrugging and revealing in a French accent ‘This might be…quite cool.’ I am excited for our future EXCITED for 2010.

Get your views in and I’ll keep you updated. Thanks for your time.

Footnote: I’m planning on getting a pretty theme and renovating this pit by December. It’ll be sexy. You wait. YOU WAIT.

Happy Scribbles!

-Maddy