thing-a-day #31days

I love the work of Jonathan Mann.  He writes a song every day and posts it on YouTube.  For awhile he had a podcast with Chris Piascik, an artist who makes a drawing a day.  From them I learned that this is an entire genre, that there are all kinds of people doing a painting a day or a scrapbook page a day, all kinds of art, all through the year. 

The guys say these sites help them get the paying work they need to live.  They've made a name for themselves and people come looking for them.  They don't do any other type of advertising. 

Jonathan got his start during a challenge called Thing-A-Day in 2009 and liked it so much he kept going.  He does a song seven days a week and Chris draws on weekdays only.  Both men say at this point, it would be harder to stop than it is to keep going.  But I know it's not easy.  I've been doing a blog post a day but when I went on the road, lost nearly a week.  I participate every year in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and once finished a script during a now-defunct challenge called Script Frenzy.  These are huge projects, and they're only for one month.  To do this all year takes serious commitment and the ability to plan life around it.  Jonathan says the key is to just go with the first idea and not edit yourself.  Just do it.  There's a freedom in that -- the more you create, the more ideas you get.  Both artists admit they're not crazy about everything they put out there, but often something they didn't see any value in is what resonates with someone else.  You never know. 

For me and most of my friends creating online, daily or even weekly content production is wearying and can get in the way of doing something more lasting.  But these thing-a-day guys are somehow able to make serious, lasting art in the midst of a tight creative schedule.  Here's one of Jonathan's that resonated with me this week.   

What would you like to create once a day and share with the world?  

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