NOTHING
Just kidding
I am a part of a discord art server and they have an assortment of drawing challenges to improve your skills and one of them was a post-it challenge, that ranged from 30, 180 and 300 days of posting drawings
Mama didn't raise a bitch so my full intention was to complete the the 300 day behemoth but the 30 and 180 day markers were useful to really describe my experience
30 post-its: very experimental, mixture of paintings, different themes, and subject matters
180 post-its: mostly centered on myself, the "why am I still doing this" really started to kick in but I was already too deep to give up
300 post-its: Relief, a deep sense of accomplishment, and a urge to still continue the streak for no benefit other than I was hooked
It gave me some real insights on what a well oiled creative process looks like and here are some things I picked up from it

1. Quantity > Quality, it's not about how hard you go it's about how often you show up
There were a lot of times where I remembered to do a post-it at the very last minute and scrambled to come up with something to draw. It was this need to post something, anything, that allowed me to use anything that happened that day for a drawing idea. A looot of the post-its were duds, but yet over the 300 days, about 30% became good idea/drawings that I wanted to polish and post. That's 100 extra drawing ideas I wouldn't have had if I didn't start the challenge. Drawing constantly, producing more over producing perfect, not only helps to improve your skill faster(minorly if done aimlessly, majorly if done deliberately) but it also helps build a strong sense of self efficacy. Self efficacy is the key to making and producing art, it is the belief that you have the ability to execute actions you intend to do. The stronger your self efficacy the more likely you are to act on your intentions and accomplish what you set out to do. Building self efficacy is easier said than done, and there is not a one size fits all solution to build it, much like discipline. It is like any other technical skill, deliberate practice makes "perfect", and the act of drawing everyday is one solid way of practicing. Efficacy is a self fulfilling feedback loop that works in both directions, I intend to draw a piece today ---> I draw the piece ---> I reaffirm the belief that I execute my intentions. I intend to draw today --> I don't draw at all ---> I reaffirm the belief that I do not execute my intentions. This cycle can feed itself negatively and positively, and making small pushes in the positive direction is much better than shooting too high and unintentionally pushing yourself in the negative direction. Saying "I will draw for 1 hour today" is hard and depending on how consistent you are is not sustainable nor achievable. Saying "I will draw for at least 5 minutes" is doable, small, and may even seem comically easy to you. But it's a trick! you draw for those five minutes and sometimes that's where you stop, but other times you go on for 5, 10, even 30 minutes more than you intended!
Drawing everyday for 5, 10, 30, 100, 365 days is one of many "hows" on how to build self efficacy and the only way to determine if it's for you is to try it

You do not have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great

2. I started to draw what I actually liked drawing instead of what I thought I should be drawing
We all have a tendency to fall into the trap of drawing things that we think others would like or would applaud us for, maybe not even for others but what you think your "artistic vision" should be. But when I did not censor myself since I really needed to get something out, even if it was hot garbage, I realized I do have a preference for drawing certain subjects and in a certain way. I am not a serious artist and that's okay. I like to draw myself, situations I thought were funny or annoying, and animals. I like drawing stuff that makes me giggle or I think would make others giggle. I am the farthest from a stoic serious artist and I should stop trying to force myself to become one.

3. Mileage, Mileage, Mileage
For most of these I was not practicing deliberately, and for a majority I did not experiment outside of the first 30 or so I did. And yet I still saw improvements. I would chalk this up to mileage and the need to observe more in order to get ideas for the days post-its. I still have a long way to go, I am still very amateur by all standards, but it has greatly set me on the path to observe more and draw more from life.

4. The Upward Spiral of consistency in one area of life radiating to other areas
I am a very privileged person, I do not deny that in any sense. I am shielded by some of the stressors of life that others are subjugated to that I cannot comprehend. It is impossible to remove it from the conversation of accomplishment, success, etc. I will just note how for me the action of drawing everyday began to radiate positively to other areas of my life. At first, I drew everyday and nothing incredibly tangible came out of it other than the art I produced, but there was a subtle shift once I surpassed 180 post its(around halfway through the challenge). I became more willing to do things that had no inherent immediate benefit. For the longest time I did not do yoga because I hated the burn from doing it. But once I saw that my aunties at 60 were more flexible than me at 21, I thought I might as well start doing it. Every morning I would wake up and do 10 minutes of simple beginner yoga for no good reason than "I might as well". 2 weeks in there were many a morning I woke up internally debating to do it today because holy shit why am I doing this. It was around week 4 of consistently doing it everyday that I sat at my computer chair daydreaming and it hit me so suddenly. What a minute my back doesn't hurt anymore! Since 16 my back started to hurt, and I could feel it when I walked and especially when I sat down at a desk. Now my back does not hurt unless I have stopped doing it for more than 3 days(and man does it suck to wake up after not doing it for a bit). And I can see it starting to continue pushing me towards the uncomfortable yet beneficial things in life. I began to do more comprehensive workouts and go to the gym more consistently, first it was once a week, then twice, and slowly I began to build up to going 5 days a week doing an intense 20 minute strength building workout. I started to read more books, cut down my social media use, and began branching out to other hobbies like writing and sewing. It is not instantaneous and the minute you chase the possibility of getting benefit out of something it's game over. To do things for the sake of just doing them without any upfront benefit is the key to spiraling upwards, no matter how small.

I don't expect this to be read by anyone quite honestly, and if it helps one person at all with their artistic or personal journey than I did my job.
Feedback is wholly appreciated and on that note I'm going back to reading and drawing :3



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