Drawing Day 2008

Today, first Saturday of June, we celebrate Drawing Day. A day on which we remember the joy we had when we first picked up a pencil and created a piece of art. Well I don't remember my first pencil, nor do I know how joyful that experience was, but I do like this idea.

There's no real goal to achieve, although Mick Gow (who I think is head of the project) and his team are hoping for 1 million drawings to be made for the project today. That's a whole lot, especially since the number of people voting 'Yes' on the question "Will you be drawing on Drawing Day?" is at the moment I write this 9036. Of course people will work on the project without voting, but still it's far from a million. But that's ok, it's not like there needs to be a million drawings in a few hours from now or else the world will end. The point simply is the celebration of drawing.

In a chapter on sculpture in his Natural History, Pliny the Elder relates the legend of the Corinthian maid Dibutade who, when faced with the departure of her beloved, sat him down in candlelight and traced his profile from the shadow cast against the wall. Her father, the potter Boutades, pressed clay on the outline to make a portrait relief, thereby inaugurating the genre sculpturing. And from there all other Western art was born. So next time you're in a museum, just think about this, it all started with a drawing.

People can draw today on Drawing Day the traditional way, but also its digital equivalent is allowed. Art can be posted on the appropriate websites, such as flickr, deviantART or YouTube. For more links where to go and more information, do visit Drawing Day.

I may be posting a drawing later today, but if you can't wait to see other people's work, here's already a one in a million (ha!) drawing as posted on YouTube. Enjoy!



* this blog post uses a quote from souvenirlab.com.