Jan 01 – Apr 11: 100 Days Of Spaceships
Jun 01 – Sep 09: 100 Plays of Space
Sept 23 – Dec 31: 100 Days of Drawing
On Jan 01 2019 I embarked on what was at the surface just another class project. The mandate was simple:
make something new every day for 100 days.
Some extra fluff was:
- what you make must be within a theme of your choosing
- you must post evidence of your makings on social media (every day)
- Choose a theme that is enough of a challenge to last more than (on average) half an hour a day, but not so challenging as to overwhelm your life.
The theme that I chose was Spaceships, specifically Computer Generated Models of Spaceships Created and Animated in Blender. This was both because I wanted to practice using Blender, and because I believed at the time that I could concern myself with spaceships for 100 consecutive days and not tire of the subject.
I chose a call-and-response model to 100 Days, wherein one day you make something, and the next day is a response to that. In my case, on one day I would model a ship, then the day after would animate it and put it in context.
The class went swimmingly well and I managed to make it through without missing a day (if we delineate the end of a day by ‘when I go to sleep’ rather than ‘midnight’).
I enjoyed the process (and learned) so much that – similar to how humans forget about pain – I forgot about all the hardships of it and decided to do another 100 Days journey over the summer.
The second round was more broadly space themed, and has less of a clear direction and intention. I wanted to further explore the Unity game engine and since the summer was about 100 days long things just fit together well.
This round got a lot less engagement from the general public, which is understandable since the topic was less immediately identifiable (if at all). I got a lot out of it however and the process prepared me well for some of the game development classes I had the following semester.
The final 100 Days almost didn’t happen but for a friend who at the last minute mentioned they wanted to try out this ‘100 Days’ thing. I was on the fence about a third 100 Days project when they contacted me. It was the 22nd of September which, we both discovered, was 101 days from the end of the year. Such coincidences cannot go unheeded and we embarked on a new 100 Days journey.
For the third round I chose a platform I was far less comfortable with; drawing. Though I have no ambition to be a visual artist of any note, being able to quickly communicate visual ideas is a useful skill in many fields, and learning the basics could do me no harm.
Though rounds 1 and 2 were the most demanding, as I on average spent far more than the recommended 30 – 60 minutes a day on them, the drawing round was the most challenging and humbling. Posting obviously terrible drawings (every day) to social media is tough on the ol’ ego, although at times a few kind souls offered words of encouragement. I also found the most peace in round 3, looking forward to the end of the day when it would be just me, a pen, and paper.
I am unsure if I will do another 100 Days, since the process is as draining as it is rewarding. I am glad that I have experienced this paradigm of making, though, since it has taught me to let go of imperfections, to iterate, and to share work. I have also proven to myself that I can at least be a consistent maker, if not a good one…