100 Days of Diary Comics
And a few tips for folks who want to give the 100 Day Project a try
My 100 day project - to do a daily diary comic - is complete! I am proud that I stuck with it and pleased with the comics I made and the habit I formed around daily drawing. I’m also very relieved it is over! I hope to continue making diary comics but perhaps with a little less pressure to do it every day and for sure without the pressure to share them daily.
I was able to keep my project mostly on schedule by doing a bit of strategic planning before I got started. These are my top tips for folks who want to give it a try in the future
Make room to experiment, but also have a go-to format
As part of my project, I wanted to be experimental and try out different formats — I wasn’t too excited to do the same 1- or 4- or 6-panel comic format for 100 days. I collected some ideas for formats beforehand and also left room to get inspired by other artists. That said, I also identified a “fall-back style” (square panels, ink and ArtGraf/India ink wash) that I could use whenever I was pressed for time or lacking inspiration…and it turns out that was a lot!
Work a couple of days ahead
As recommended by the 100 Day Project organizers, I started my project 2 days before the official start date so that on Day 1, I already had a 2-day buffer. This reduced the pressure around finishing a sketch each day. For diary comics in particular, it was also helpful to have at least a day to reflect on what I wanted to share from the previous day, rather than feeling like I needed to capture things as they were happening.
Create a sharing template
Posting my sketches to Instagram was one of my least favorite parts of the project, but it did truly help with accountability. I’m not a very sophisticated Instagram user so I looked for a way to make it as quick as possible. I created an Instagram story template in Canva with pre-written text so all I needed to do was swap in the new photo and update what day it was. This meant I could spend as little time making Instagram stories as possible ;)
Recruit some cheerleaders
I was grateful that several friends and family members (people I know IRL) followed along with my posts, commenting when they spotted a familiar face or place. I’m also thankful for a few loyal internet friends who cheered for each post. I even got a kick out of my daughter and her classmate flipping through my sketchbook as we watched their sisters play soccer. Everyone played a part in encouraging me to keep with it for 100 days.
Make it portable
For me to do this, it had to fit into fringe moments of my day or it wasn’t going to happen. I made comics on the couch, at Flour cafe near my office during lunch, on the soccer sidelines, and in waiting rooms. I started with a 5x8 Midori notebook and once that was filled, switched to a 5.5 x 5.5 Handbook sketchbook - both of which tucked nicely into my messenger bag along with a pen, pencil, and eraser. When I could ink at home I used diluted India Ink, but for on-the-go tone I love ArtGraf, which can be activated with a water brush,
Have a place to capture ideas
For diary comics, on top of composition and drawing, you need to know decide what the comic is going to be about. I kept a small journal with a bullet list of what happened each day and then jotted down notes about what might make a good comic and any ideas I had for scenes and visuals. This list was also super helpful when I got behind.
Here are a few of my favorite comics from the 100 days!
I hope you enjoyed these!
Huge!
This is great! Thanks for sharing your tips on how you stuck at it, well done!