100 days of collages
Reflections on creating art daily
What is the 100 day project?
“The 100 Day Project is a free art project that takes place online. Every spring, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of exploring their creativity.”
This project took off on social media when Elle Luna and her friends started posting about their respective projects on Instagram. And now it has grown into a global community of artists, makers, and creators.
This year, I decided to participate in this project (my first time!). After an initial dearth of ideas, I was able to brainstorm some themes for this project. I wanted to try my hand at making collages. I wanted to explore floral shapes, abstract patterns and unusual color palettes.
I called it #100daysofpaperandcolor.
In this article I outline my preparation, process and takeaways of this project.
Initial Prep
To prepare for this project, I decided on some basic logistics.
- I used these art supplies…
Paper, glue, scissors and paints! - I decided to incorporate…
Floral and abstract themes. - I posted about this project…
On Instagram, a photo of one collage everyday.
An important thing I’d decided for this project was to keep going even if I miss a day, or two, or a week. Giving myself the permission to fail actually comforted me and I was able to move past the days when I didn’t work on this project, either because I was too busy or not in the mood.
Adding some rules
(It might sound complex, but it actually simplified things for me!)
I’ve discovered that setting some constraints, especially for any creative task works in my favor. Specifically for this project, it helped me in the following ways:
- Having some rules actually added an element of a challenge which made the collage-making process more fun.
- The rules provided a good starting point. I had a framework to begin with, so a blank page was never really blank.
- These constraints made it okay to create simpler designs and patterns, and took the pressure off, to ‘create something outside-the-box’.
- Simplifying the ideation part helped me stay invested in the process of creating art everyday, without feeling frustrated, and giving me a sense of accomplishment.
Some made-up rules for my collages:
- Colors - White, Neutral tones, Plain color, Textured color
- Themes - Floral, Geometric, Abstract
For each collage, I used a combination of these themes, and for the color palette I used one of the 4 colors for background and remaining 3 for foreground elements.
Starting with the first collage, I rotated through these constraints for choosing a pattern and color palette.
- White background, floral & geometric themes
- Neutral background, floral & geometric themes
- Neutral background, floral theme
- Plain colored background, geometric & abstract themes
Some reflections…
A few thoughts on the preparation and process of finishing this project:
First, I had to tell myself that I am going to pick a task and stick with it for 100 days. I had promised myself, I would have a notebook filled with 100 artworks by the end.
- I spent a good deal of time in thinking of some constraints for this project (as outlined in the previous section). The purpose of doing this was to limit the time spent in thinking about creative ideas. I wanted to make it manageable for me to create art everyday along with work.
- I bought a really cute pocket journal to make these collages. No better motivation than some good stationary, right?! With this project, I also found a way to finish a stack of old index cards (yay! for putting some unused paper to productive use!) Getting the art supplies in place before starting the project served as the initial prep.
- This project was a rare case where my focus was more on quantity than quality. Having done a lot of artwork consistently inculcated a good creative practice in me. Now, getting into the creative zone feels a tad bit easier.
- Making art everyday, for 100 days straight reinforced the idea that making art is more about enjoying and immersing yourself in the process than worrying about the end result.
- It was genuinely heartwarming to see the support I received from my friends who followed this project. And I discovered some incredible artwork and artists in the process.
You can check out more projects from this year at #the100dayproject2020. Lastly, if you are looking to do your own 100 day project, I’d recommend that you start here.
