indieVISUAL blog

newBLOG

2011-01-18T11:50:00.000-08:00

Hey, hope you're enjoying your January/FYSM/day! :]
If you haven't started yet there's still a lot of time left and I'm always here if you need some ideas!
Today I just wanted to link you to another little ol' blog that I started this year.
For now it documents my little adventures but who knows where it'll go.
I'd really appreciate if you'd take time to have a look! I'm really enjoying getting back into blogging.
Click Here to go straight there!
Here are some taster pictures of what to expect!

See you at the end of the month. Stay creative cool cats!
-Maddyx

fysmFYSMfysm

2010-12-31T08:03:00.000-08:00

Hello, been a while, and welcome to the mandatory blog post about my next new wacky project!
Excited? You should be!
Maybe.
No pressure.
This project is called indieVISUAL FYSM which stand for ‘Fill Your Sketchbook Month’ and means very much what you probably think it means; we’re going to try and fill our sketchbooks….in a month…. Colon-zero!!!
It feels odd even trying to further explain it but I’ve never been one to discourage curiosity, so if this sounds like something you’d like to be involved with then read ahead. Also be aware there are other ways to help if you know you won’t be able to produce a sketchbook so…go on….read ahead anyway.

When does it start?!
The official month is January 2011. I’ll be starting on January 1st and hoping to complete by the 31st. It’s a fresh new start and a good idea if you’re stuck for creative resolutions! If you haven’t started by January 1st, read on.

IT’S ALREADY JANUARY AND I HAVEN’T STARTED!
Probably my fault more than anything for not telling you sooner (the new year snuck upon me like a sneaky snake wearing sneakers). I’d like as many people to be finished by January 31st but if you start a little late, it’s fine to finish a little late too. But don’t see that as an excuse. As soon as you buy/own an empty sketchbook; your month starts from there! I’ll be WATCHING*!!!!
*Not really.

How big do our sketchbooks need to be?!
In this project, size does not actually matter. I’m using a fairly thin A5 landscape (that I made by cutting a A4 one in half) sketchbook because I know that’s a realistic size for what I’m going to be able to achieve. If that seems too big or too small to you, by all means use whichever size you think you’ll be able to fill. I think the key is not to be too ambitious and also take into consideration if you’ll want to take your sketchbook around with you, you’ll need to be able to get it out the door. (I’d recommend no bigger than A4)

Is it just sketches?
No no no and….maybe. If you want it to be. Just like the journal challenge last year (drawing once a day, every day, for an entire year) it’s entirely your own ‘indievisual’ choice of what you put in your sketchbook. Hopefully the video will show you some methods if you’re really stuck but just…relax…have fun! Sketchbooks can be all about the ideas rather than the finished product. Don’t try and make every page a masterpiece and just go with the flow, go crazy!…I filled an entire page with pencil sharpenings once but perhaps that story is for another time.

So…do I have to do it like…everyday?
Nope! The beauty of this is that it’ll help you to understand how to work a considerable amount of art into your busy lives. You could –and I know people who do- fill a sketchbook in a day and slack off for the rest of the month. But learning a healthy pattern of when to do art is something only you can know how to do. This is a time to really experiment with a fresh new start to the year.

What do I do with it/Why am I doing this?
Well no one is forcing you to do anything and sadly I haven’t trained a group of singing monkeys to spring from your sketchbook on completion and juggle for you. What you’ll have is a record of a lot of thoughts and feeling in your first month of 2011 and I think that’s exciting enough!!! …I know, I know….I’d prefer the monkeys too…

Hey, how does this fit into the Journal Challenge/Is the Journal Challenge happening this year?
The journal challenge is DEFINITELY happening this year by all means. But I’ll focus on that a little more after January. You can do one and not the other but you can also do both! What I’m hoping will happen is some people will be pleasantly surprised by how much they can achieve within a month and therefore be encouraged to draw a lot more over the next year. If you want to talk to me about your thoughts then I’m easily contactable by email; indievisual@live.co.uk
No idea what I’m talking about? Check the FAQs!

Derp. There’s no way I can do that. How else can I help?
As I’ve said before, sketchbooks are all about ideas! And to fill an entire sketchbook? You need LOTS of ideas. If you’ve got thoughts or ideas on what you want others to be drawing (including me obviously) share them with each other! You can even collaborate with friends to create one whole awesome sketchbook. As long as you fill a sketchbook, the rest is yours to decide.

I hope this helped. If you have any more general questions or suggestions then don’t hesitate to ask me (emailling is good) but this little challenge really isn’t about me. It’s about developing your own skills and making sketchbooks something personal to you.
I wish ye the best of luck with all your creative endeavours!
Oh and Happy New Years and stuff.

-Mx

2010-12-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

http://www.competitionhunter.com

I think I've lost my camera and I'm trying to win it back. :[

NEW SUMMER PROJECT! :}

2010-05-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

HELLO ALL.
Gosh gosh gosh, long time no type!

I have a video for you.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO.

Then come back here an we’ll have a good ol’ chitchat.

So the indieVISUAL Sum-Up My Summer project has been unleashed unto the world! But chances are, in order to make the video fast-pace and entertaining (-ish), I didn’t clarify a lot of things so you’ve probably got a ton of questions. Please browse through this to see if I’ve cleared up anything at all. This may be added to if other questions persist!

Pre-emptive Frequently Asked Questions based on the ones people had for the Journal Challenge. :]

How long does this go on for? 1^st June – 1^st September 2010 is how long I plan to do mine for, however I’m not going to get too violent if you start earlier. Finishing by September 1^st would be helpful if we want to have a big showcase!

What is a disposable camera? Disposable cameras are cameras that have a set number of photos to take (around 20-30 standard), then developed (more on that later) and then never to be used again. They may also be called ‘Single-Use’ Cameras. Because of this, they are fairly cheap.

Do I HAVE to use a disposable camera? Just like the Journal Challenge, nothing is obligatory. If you like this idea but wanna run free on your own turf than absolutely do so! Another alternative is if you have any analogue cameras (the old type with film) they work just as well but I wouldn’t suggest investing unless you really know what you’re doing.

What price are the disposable cameras? This does depend on where you get them from.(more on this later) Here in England, a standard one will cost anything from £3-£10. Even higher depending on what you want it to do (I would suggest you get one with Flash). If you don’t mind splashing out, I’d suggest a £5 camera WITH FLASH is a safe bet. I’ve had cheap ones be a little unreliable but that’s more to do with my luck than anything. For other parts of the world you might wanna do research.

Where do I get the disposable cameras from? In England, they’re everywhere in the Summer! Supermarkets, Boats, Pharmacies. If you’re in another part of the world and you’re finding it difficult to get hold of one, I’d definitely suggest cruising through Ebay! I’ve seen some pretty cheap ones. God bless the internets.

Where do I get the photos developed? In England (sorry, I am in England though) most Boots stores have a place to get photos developed as well as the usual camera stores like Jessops and Kodak. Sadly things in life aren’t free and you have to pay a little bit of money. In other parts of the world, I’m sure camera shops do similar deals. I also saw in a film with Robyn Williams that they do that sort of thing at Wall-mart? Creepy film though.

Are you getting paid by any camera manufacturer?/ ARE YOU A MAJOR CORPORATE COMPANY?!

I wish! ;P But no, this is just a simple idea that I had one day and wanted to share it with you guys./I am a 17 year old girl.

Why are you doing this? I’m not a photographer and I’m not particularly good at using cameras because I have been somewhat spoiled by the use of digital photography being care-free and easily delete-able. With a disposable camera you can really take time to think about your shots and by summing up your summer you know you want to capture a moment.It's just to improve and have a little fun too, really.

Is this a competition? Is there anything I get from this? This is a ‘project’ and because its ‘indieVISUAL’/individual you get your own sense of self satisfaction! I simply don’t have the funds to give out prizes right now and this is all about your own development in photography! :]

So what are we doing after September 1^st? In September I want everyone to go get them developed and then? It really depends on how many people get to this stage. More information will be released when the project is underway so hold onto your hats!

How do I keep in-the-know about this project? I’d say follow me on Twitter if you don’t mind getting bombarded with other updates about my life too (I try to keep them interesting!) You can also follow my Journal Challenge Tumblr or of course Subscribe to my YouTube and I’ll put any changes etc in a bulletin.Wow, quite enough self-whoring I think!

I have another question that has not been answered! Cool! You inquisitive little mole, you! Feel free to email me (this blogs commenting system isn’t great for replying) @ indievisual@live.co.uk! I also have a formspring because I am down with the kids!

That is all for now folks. I am excited to hearing responses from you! :]

-Bai bai!

-Maddyx

indieVIDEO

2010-03-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

Hullo popsicles! Some genuine news for you. Unlike all that FAKE news that infiltrates the media these days. Sorry, writing a political play at the moment and it’s hard to keep it out of ordinary writing-ma-goos. So WHAT is this news, you ask avidly? The news that I finally got a video up on that there site called YouTube! Yup, it’s finally happened! In my spare time recently I been figuring out a whole LIST of videos I want to create for your peepers –that on a completely unrelated note look absolutely beautiful today and subscribe. :] This video isn’t really very exciting due to it just being me explaining a few things and I like to remind y’all that it’s my first video I’ve made so sometimes it doesn’t work as smooooth as I want it. But hopefully I shall soon inject hypothetical Poly-filler into those gaps and have something joyous to watch throughout the Summer. Joyous and creative! So enjoy, until Summery time acomes.
GO HERE DUE TO EMBEDDING BEING SILLY.
Thanks for watching! Until some other time when I have something mildly amousing to say. :]
-Mx

subNOTsunday

2010-02-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

Right, here’s the deal-i-o Beanie Babies,

My submitSUNDAY may have to be a thing of the past.

No no, don’t cry! I know it’s devastating and only lasted for a month. So, I’m not gunna pretend like I’m particularly busy on Sundays because it’s just a blatant LIE. But my internet connection is being SUPER fail right now. Like it takes me atleast 5 attempts to upload daily onto tumblr! But my blogspot literally REFUSES to upload images. It has a massive toddler-like tantrum and I simply can’t go through the pain every week!
So for now anyway, if you want to check out my drawings, you go to my tumblr! Doesn’t mean I’m not daily checking out everyone’s art though! :]

And then there’s the prospect of managing this stuff on a YouTube level. I wish wish WISH my internet would upload the videos. I just don’t know what’s wrong. I’ve tried, literally, EVERYTHING. And so I have no drive to film anything else before I’ve got more up!

There’s also talk of a Wiki-group so we can keep track of who’s definitely in the project and who’s not. And then if you decide to quite you can just delete yourself off the list. Sound like a good idea? Thanks to SquiggleTag for setting that up. Hopefully we can get something sorted in the near future. I’ll keep you posted!
I suppose that’s what this account will be for, for a while. Important notices and what not. When I’m not drowning in schoolwork maybe I can get some interesting entries here too. :]

So hope you're all being creative!
Keep drawing!
-Maddyxz

submitWHAT?

2010-02-07T14:24:00.001-08:00

Guys, I've been trying for the past 6 hours to upload the damn images to this page but my internets giving me a lot of grief and I think I'm finally going to give up for now. I'll try to do a submitMONDAY tomoro even though that doesn't have ANY ring to it!
The internets been very bitchy this week. For those who don't know I've edited my first video for Youtube but it will not let me upload and I've been trying all week.
Internet....you're....you're mean! ;____;
Lovingest regards, Maddyx

oneMONTH?!?!

2010-01-31T07:43:00.000-08:00

AN ENTIRE MONTH Y'ALL!
We made it! Absolutley fantastic WELL DONE. I hope you've all learnt lots and are even more inspired to continue the whole year through!
We've lost some people, we've gained some people but all in all I've achieved what I never thought I could; inspiring masses about art. Even those who cannot do it every day, Ihope this project has made you feel like actually, you could be a little more creative in your day!
QUESTION OF THE WEEK: So I asked a few tumblrinoes this but I thought I'd open it up; What has surprised you most about this challenge so far?
For me, I've been surprised by the community spirit of everyone and I've already felt small improvements on a few things like lettering and composition. Still got a lot to go but I'm confident this time next year I'll have improved! So comment with what you've learnt so far!

submitSUNDAY time: A very colourful week. Been kinda ill but produced some good stuff. Finished my big commision and done lotsa school work. Kinda. Should still be doing more actually...

So I wanted to share another image with you! It's a screenshot I took of all my days so far. I've organised folders for each month and this is my January folder, full up!

Anyone else doing anything this ridiculous? xP
So, what will February bring? Valentines day? YouTube? Tinsel-decorated CATS?
Maybe...
Whatever happens, keep all the creativity up and know that you're all awesome!
-Maddyx

sexy(submit)SUNDAY

2010-01-24T06:11:00.000-08:00

Ahoy hoy lovelies,
Here's my submitSUNDAY within a week of a lot of pressure and rice krispies.

I won't add todays one because the symmetry is too pretty.

Not a lot to say this week! I've been working really hard on a lot of other artistic nonsense so haven't had a BUNCH of time. I'm CRAVING summer.
See you next week beauties.
-Maddyx

failNOT

2010-01-17T05:08:00.000-08:00

Hi Coolcats,
Some people have come to me or posted elsewhere that recently it has been hard for them to keep up with the project and that they’ve missed days out. They start using the ‘F word’ (Fail) and even the ‘C word’! (CBA) Just to say if you miss a day out it does NOT mean you fail and it does NOT mean you can’t carry on. Do not get into a stress about missing a few days, all you gotta do is CARRY ON. Especially as it’s only January! It’s when you start missing months where you should start worrying if this place is right for you. :]
All you have to ask yourself is; do you really want to better yourself in art? Do you think it will enrich your life by doing so? I think it will, but who am I to tell you what to do? ;P
Submit Sunday Time!

It's been such a crazy busy week so colour is lacking.
I’m up to date with followers again and I’ve been flooded with creativity from all you guys recently which is great to see so keep it up guys!
Hope you have another fun-filled week, keep drawing!
-Maddyx

submitSUNDAY

2010-01-10T09:06:00.000-08:00

Hey fellow iVJ-ers (I love how some of you have shortened it, that’s so cute!)

Not much to say this week apart from....IT’S BEEN OVER A WEEK. CONGRATS COOLCATS. If you’re still going –and I know many of you are- then I reward you with a genuine hypothetical imaginary pat on the back! It’s been a great amount of fun sifting through everyone’s work –all you guys are so talented now imagine how good its gunna be a YEAR from now. Or now, 10 days LESS than a year! HORRAH. And I’m always glad to hear that you’re having such a great time with it. It makes my rather chilly day that little bit warmer!
And yes, it has been snowing in most parts of England! If you wanna check out what rainbow-assortments I made click here! :] There have been some brilliant pictures floating around the internets!

I think some people are dwindling on inspiration a bit. (I know for a while, I was!) So here’s some random themes that you could use in those days lacking in excitement:

-If you could make anything out of snow; what would it be? Draw!
-If you could invite anyone to a tea party (celebrity etc) who would they be? Draw your tea party!
-Draw yourself in an opposite dimension on this day.
-What Resolutions have you broken ALREADY (hopefully not this one!)
-The Christmas Present you haven’t used yet.

Hopefully that’s got some thoughts pumping if you were running a bit dry. Remember, if you’ve got any ideas for THEMED DAYS. Then send your thoughts in to indievisual@live.co.uk

So here is my week in pictures! Lots of being at home and moping. :]

If you wanna keep up to date with my latest entries on the day I do them CLICK HERE to see my tumblr and down the side you can check out all the other cool’ns that are following the challenge!

That’s all for now folks. Hope you’re all having EXTREME fun and....
KEEP DRAWING. :3

-Maddyxz

PS. Thinking of a bit of a redesign of this place. Any ideas? Comments and emails, people!

lovelyTIMES

2010-01-04T12:57:00.000-08:00

Hello my soupy dragons!
(....just....*sigh*)
Exciting topics of conversation for today:
-Submit Sunday (OPTIONAL)
-Funny Sentence Friday! (ALSO OPTIONAL)
-Provoking Prospects (well...I guess optional too.)
-Social-Networking Such-likes! (Urm...hellooo.)
Submit Sunday is going to be the official day of Uploading! HOWEVER if you think you’ve got into a rhythm where you can upload every day and that’s easy for you then ABSOLUTELY go for uploading every day still. For me, my tumblr account is where I’ll be uploading every day as much as I can and on my blogspot you’ll see I’ll submit on a particular Submit Sunday! Whichever way you wanna do it is fine with me. It’d be good, if you do chose to upload on Submit Sunday that you tag it or put it somewhere in the title. Just so others can know there’s more pictures on the page! Also, this is useful to those who go on holiday and are unavailable to upload their picture for say, two weeks! The next Sunday when you get home you can do a MASSIVE submit Sunday, you see? As long as you draw every day! Try not to cheat!
Funny Sentence Friday is one of many themed days I’m planning this year! If you want to join in all you have to go to is THIS site. And chose how you want to structure your sentence and automatically you have an interesting scenario to draw! You can keep clicking until you find something funny to draw. I’m going to try and incorporate it THIS Friday into my drawing. And, unless anything interesting happens otherwise, do it for the first Friday of every month! You can join in too! Of course you don’t have to do it every month. But I think it would be fun to know that EVERYONE in the project has at some point this year done a Funny Sentence Friday. Again, when you do one; tag it!
Kudos to my real life friend Luke (I know, I totally have real friends too!) who came up with this!
You can have fun with these theme days. You could also introduce What You’re Wearing Wednesday and Munchkin-related Monday! Well...maybe not the latter...
If you have any ideas for themes you’d like to suggest; totally send them into me through email! indievisual@live.co.uk!
Lastly, on this note, I need to mention that this doesn’t mean you can’t use this sentence generator/show us what you’re wearing/show how many munchkin-related lunchboxes you own every other day of the week too! Go crazy with it if you’re inspired!
Provoking Prospects huh? I mainly just used the word ‘Provoking’ because everything else used alliteration. What I really mean to think about is the FUTURE. Keep you getting excited about what a year of going through this could bring for you!
The answer to that is; frikkin’ awesome YouTube videos THAT’S WHAT!
Imagine watching a video where 365 images flash up on screen. Each one a different drawing for every day of the year! This kind of video will be the EASIEST thing to make if SOMEHOW you managed to get a drawing for every day of the year....hmmm....but how?! Oh wait! You’re already doing it!
So for those YouTubers out there; this could be a yearlong project for simply making a really awesome film! So hopefully that’s grabbed a few more of your guess attention spans and rattled them into shape; don’t give up!
We’ve also got some other exciting projects underway for the closing of 2010 (long way off but...a girl can dream!) so if you stick around until then, you might be in for some treats!
Social-networking Such-likes (alliteration fail!)
A number of you have been asking for a twitter and various other pieces of internet ways to stalk me. :]
I guess I see no harm in telling everyone my twitter. It’s @Maddyology and it’s not always indieVISUAL related but occasionally I’ll say something relevant. Something other than my view on different flavour poptarts.
There is an indieVISUAL Facebook group that has been set up by someone other than me. Haha, your efforts have been noted! However, if you do happen to come across a few comments by me I would ask you to please to not add me as a friend on facebook. I feel like I need a little place to run and as much as I love making mega-friends with you all I would greatly appreciate it if it stayed indieVISUAL free for the most part. Sozzles!
Other places?
I have a Myspace but I set it up for the lols when I wanted to do CD art design. Incidentally I’m still open for ridiculous cheap commissions. ;P (Nothing like a bit of self promotion!)
Urm, I don’t really hang out many other places. Apart from deviant ART which a lot of you have found already to my surprise. :]
So to be honest the best way to contact me is through here, through tumblr and through email. And if that’s not enough stalking for one day then...well....umm....you’ll just have to cope?
That’s about it for today. Just would like to thank everyone for keeping up the effort! It’s fantastic to see a real community growing amongst people! And it’s nice to see a few new faces trickling in! Right now it REALLY isn’t too late to join in with the fun!
Reached over 100 on tumblr and 100 on here! That probably doesn’t mean THAT many people are doing it for real but still a massive boost to know that you were interested enough to check it out. You couldn't be making me happier right now really, you lovely peoples you!

-Maddyx

watermelonJANUARY

2010-01-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hello boys and girls.

I bring some fantastic news and some not SO fantastic news.
The fantastic news is that it is the 1^st of January and the project is underway with lots of exciting entries all over your blogs which is GREAT and I’m keeping up with them all!
I’ve decided what I’m going to do;
TUMBLR: will be for my entries to go up every day-ish as much as I can! I follow everyone who follows me so I get a direct stream of all your work which is nice.

BLOGSPOT: If there are any interesting things to say about the project they will be HERE. However I will LINK to this page from TUMBLR if I do put anything up! And then at the end of every week/month I’ll be putting up my work here anyway so don’t fear blogspotters! As for viewing you, I’m trying to work it out, I’ve tried following everyone but it resulted in an error page so I’ll try again soon, don’t worry though KEEP GOING.

I’m also thinking of having a specific DAY where we do a bulk upload every week instead of once every day. That means 7 pictures to a journal. What do you think? It might be easier for those of you who panic when they can’t get to a computer? Not sure yet though so please comment!

I shall however show my FIRST picture now.

It was an orange day today. :] Also introducing my 'word of the day' where I choose a fun/unknown word to my vocabulary. Even though I knew of the word Buoyancy before, its such a fun word I thought it fitted today!

Good news over; in case you didn’t know; Charlie quit early on the challenge! He’s got a lot of stuff to cope with over the next year so it’s perfectly understandable. I just wanted to address this here because I really don’t want this to discourage you! All of you can still do it and really get something out of it! Take this as an opportunity to become more encouraged to get through a year! He brought all you guys to me and I can’t thank him enough. In short; now that he’s gone....Please don’t leave meeee. =O

Okay, ripped that one off like a bandage.
Hmm, a happy note to end on?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m904SQBfCBI

OH DEAR.

-Maddyxz

thisisCOOLLIKE

2009-12-30T09:49:00.000-08:00

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’m desigining t-shirts for it in the new year due to popular demand!) Somehow that’s my most popular piece of art to DATE (even though technically its not a good piece of art!) and it came out of a silly thought me and my friend had about 5 years ago. No one is expecting you to have this GRAND idea for every day of the year and if you do; you’re some sorta flipping artistic genius!

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

2009-12-29T09:31:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-22T14:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

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