A Daily Creativity Journal
By Noah Scalin
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About this ebook
The concept of Noah Scalin’s “365 method” is simple but inspired: Choose a theme or medium, then make something with it every day for a year. Noah made 365 skull-themed projects . . . now he invites you to choose your obsession and get creative!
A Daily Creative Journal offers 365 project prompts to kick start your creativity. It offers tips on how to choose your subject and document your work, plus examples from other artists and crafters who took the 365 challenge. It also introduces new techniques to incorporate into your projects, including quilling, clay-making, paper pop-up engineering, and more.
With 365: A Daily Creativity Journal you’ll see how making something every day can change your creative process—and your life—forever!
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A Daily Creativity Journal - Noah Scalin
INTRODUCTION
A daily creative project is like a marathon. It’s a ridiculously daunting task, but making an original creation every day gives you an incredible sense of accomplishment. It also forces you to push beyond your mental and physical barriers (especially the ones you’ve erected for yourself). You’ll be amazed at what you produce and what you learn about yourself in the process.
363. Skullusion
My friends Nathan and Shelia endured several hours in a small dressing room for this shot.
When I started on my own year of daily art, making a skull a day, ending up on the Martha Stewart Show was the farthest thing from my mind. Indeed, I was really just looking for a new creative outlet. My year of art was a roller coaster ride that ended with a lot of unexpected outcomes, including winning the Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Personal Website, writing a book, and giving lectures across the country. It also left me with a toolbox full of new skills and creative ideas, which I’ve already used in my professional design work and which I’m sure will come in handy for years to come. Even better, it helped me connect with my existing friends on new levels, as I worked with and learned from them, and even helped me make new friends from around the world. Most important, the project has inspired people to be creative, whether by starting their own daily project or just making one new piece of art.
OK, so results may vary,
but the reality is that the small, incremental steps I took every day added up to something much bigger than the individual parts. A daily creative project is something anyone can do with a bit of perseverance, regardless of skills or talent. And the suggestions and images in this book are designed to help you push past the things that can snag you along the way and to inspire you to discover what you are capable of.
The only rule is: There are no rules!
The point of this book is to put as many tools and as much inspiration into your hands as possible so that you have no excuse but to get started on your own daily project. Read it front to back, or just skip to the parts that interest you. Don’t feel obliged to follow everything to the letter. If you feel inspired to do something completely different, go for it! A daily project is all about the rules you make for yourself, and there is no punishment for breaking those rules.
The journal part of this book is yours to do with as you please. I’ve written 365 project suggestions, but they are just that: suggestions. Feel free to ignore, rearrange, edit, and/or repeat as you see fit. Perhaps you’ll even design an entire year’s project around just one of them. While some are simpler than others, all of them are meant to be doable by anyone, with any level of previous creative experience.
Since my own daily project was visual, I’ve made suggestions from a visual standpoint. However, most of the suggested ideas can be interpreted for written or audio projects, and in some cases they are specifically designed for them. The blank spaces are for you to jot ideas, sketch plans, note experiences, scrapbook images, document your project, or just doodle in—it’s all up to you.
Most important: Don’t stress out. Remember, this is about taking little steps. When doing your daily project, focus on the current day and don’t think about tomorrow, next week, or next month. Big projects can be incredibly daunting, but you’ll be amazed at what you can do when you break them down into a series of tiny, manageable pieces.
And don’t forget to share what you’re doing! I want to help you do that, so please send an e-mail about what you’re doing to me@noahscalin.com, and I will post about your project on the 365 blog: www.MakeSomething365.com.
Now get started already!
ABOUT DAILY PROJECTS
A yearlong daily project can be overwhelming—that’s a good and a bad thing. The sheer scale of the task can make it seem impossible to accomplish, but it’s that daunting quality that actually creates so many opportunities for incredible and unexpected results. Pushing yourself beyond your assumed limits is what it’s all about.
For some people, just starting at all will be a giant hurdle. Others will dive right in only to discover that they’re in over their heads halfway through. The problem (and also the exciting part) is that you don’t know what you’re getting into when you start a long-term project.
The concept of a daily practice isn’t new. However, with the rise of easy-to-use Internet technology and inexpensive digital cameras, the concept has exploded. Suddenly anyone can easily share a project, gain an audience, and in turn inspire others to try it out as well. So what’s the big deal? Doing something every day can change your life for the better, whether it’s gaining a new level of skill, nurturing latent abilities, or just seeing what dedication and commitment can produce. And no matter what the outcome, you will learn more about yourself and feel a sense of accomplishment that’s rare to find in our normal daily lives.
A daily project is a personal journey that can offer you a rare opportunity for self-discovery and personal growth with tangible results. And who knows? Maybe even a new career, a book deal, an exhibition, an extra source of income, or even fame and fortune.
CHOOSING A SUBJECT OR MEDIUM
The key to a successful daily project is deciding on a subject or medium that you will enjoy exploring for a year. Your ideas may come as a flash of inspiration, or it may be something you experiment with and research before settling on. Keep in mind that a simpler idea will go a lot farther than a complicated one, which can bog you down as it becomes increasingly difficult to produce.
If you choose a consistent subject matter (skulls, stars, smiley faces, Chihuahuas, etc.), pick something you already like. You probably have plenty examples of it in your environment to inspire you, and you’ll be less likely to get tired of it before a year is over.
If you pick a consistent medium or technique (oil painting, photography, collage, etc.), this is your chance to take your skill to another level. They say practice makes perfect, and you’ll be getting a lot of practice in the course of your project. Choose something you really want to master.
I enjoyed picking my subject and diving into the project but feel free to test out a few ideas before you commit yourself to an idea. Once you get going, don’t be afraid to allow your subject or medium to morph. Perhaps you start with oil painting, but allow yourself to try other types of painting, or maybe you start with Chihuahuas, but move to other breeds of dogs as well. Let your interests guide you.
Once you settle on your subject or medium, you may find that you’ll want lots of inspiration to help keep you going (especially after you work through all of the obvious solutions), so I’ve provided a short list of places to start on the following page…
SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
Check out these other yearlong/daily projects when you’re in need of some inspiration. By no means is this an exhaustive list, so keep an eye out for additional sources when you’re online.
365 Letters Carla decided to write a letter every day for the year 2009 and decided to do it again in 2010. www.365lettersblog.blogspot.com
365 Skulls Eric De La Fuente was so enamored with my Skull-A-Day project, he decided to create 365 skulls of his own! www.365-skulls.blogspot.com
Daily Drop Cap Typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische is making a drop cap (oversized letter used at the beginning of written works) every workday until she finishes twelve full alphabets. www.dailydropcap.com
The Doodle Daily Warren created fun, hand-drawn doodle illustrations every day for a year. www.thedoodledaily.com
A Heart A Day Illustrator and designer Thomas Fuchs decided to create a clever interpretation of a heart every day. www.aheartaday.com
The Julie/Julia Project Probably the most well-known daily project of all time. Julie Powell cooked every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the course of a year. blogs.salon.com/0001399
Live and Let Livia Performer Livia Scott created and videotaped herself performing as 365 different characters, one a day for a year. www.youtube.com/liveandletlivia
Noah K. Everyday Photographer Noah Kalina has been taking a photograph of himself every day since 2000. www.noahkalina.com
A Painting a Day Many people have done painting-a-day projects, but artist Duane Keiser, who did his project from 2004 to 2006, is one of the most well known. http://duanekeiser.blogspot.com
Stormtroopers 365 Stéfan from France documented the amusing exploits of two toy Star Wars Stormtroopers every day for a year. http://stormtroopers365.com