DAILY GRIND
The History Of My Daily Sketches
I’ve been doing Daily Sketches pretty consistently since 2011, but I would attempt many times in the years leading up to that.
It all started with me discovering Eric Canete’s blog around 2006. I remembered Eric from a comic called “Cybernary 2.0” published at Wildstorm. I was blown away by his artwork. He had such a unique style and crafted the most dynamic pages. When I found his blog, I was stunned. His drawings captured everything I wanted to do with my art, but couldn’t yet. I scrolled through hundreds of images and saved them all. I poured over each and every one and studied him like a textbook. I wanted to know how his brain worked. I also wanted to know how he had so many pieces of art on his blog that had nothing to do with a job or a published book.
He called it his 90 Minute Sketch. He started each day off with a sketch that he kept inside of 90 minutes. Some were half done, some were so detailed and crazy that you’d never believe it only took him 90 minutes. As I scrolled through the years of these 90 minute masterpieces, I noticed they just got better and better. It was then I decided I would do that too!
I jumped in and tried my hand at it and for a few months, I actually did it. They were nowhere near what Eric was producing, but that didn’t matter to me. Eventually I lost steam. I didn’t know why at the time, but I just didn’t have the motivation to keep it up. I would make a few more attempts over the years but it just never stuck...
…until this Thanos sketch in 2011.
I posted this to my blog with the grand declaration that, “I will finally start doing daily sketches and posting them.” And I’m sure I would’ve bombed like I have so many times before if it weren’t for Scott Morse. Scott is one of my favorite artists and storytellers behind books like Soulwind, Dug Out, Magic Pickle, and is one of the geniuses at Pixar, helping craft the stories of so many of your favorite movies. He reached out to me and simply said, “This is a great idea! We should start a blog together, we’ll call it SKOTTIESCOTT and we’ll draw the same thing everyday.”
Then he added, “And we’ll sell the originals. You know, like con sketches.”
Hmmmmm. This was a great idea, but I was skeptical. Who would buy the doodles we worked up every morning? Well, we launched a blog together and started drawing and it turns out… everyone wanted to buy them. We both received dozens and eventually hundreds of emails within minutes of posting, trying to buy them. And just like that, I was sketching (mostly) every day, posting and selling. Everyday, rinse and repeat. I loved the direct connection between me making the art and it finding a new home instantly. It was so energizing. It gave me a reason to keep at it this time.
Eventually, I realized that the side income wasn’t the only reason I was doing these. I noticed I was trying things artistically that I couldn’t on pages for X-Men or Venom. I was experimenting with shape, tone, and different tools. I was basically finding who I was as an artist and storyteller. It was also a way to trick my brain. “Look what I did in the first hour of the day. The rest of the day will be a breeze!” That sense of accomplishment to start the day off was pretty powerful.
Eventually, Scott and I couldn’t keep up the same schedule. Either he’d be too busy and miss posts, or I would, or we both would. So we let the group blog drift away and set off on our own.
I started posting them on my own blog and stayed consistent with it. It gave me a way to stay connected with my readers and social media followers. I’d jump on Twitter or Instagram and take suggestions from time to time and it was always great inspiration.
Flash forward 10 years after starting my Daily Sketches, I’m still doing them. I should probably call them MOSTLY Daily Sketches now, but I do my best to jump in as much as possible. Work and kids can get a bit extra sometimes but I’ll never let the Daily Sketches go. They’ve helped me find myself artistically and made me a much better cartoonist over all these years. When you take the pressures of HAVING TO draw, then it’s amazing what you will come up with just by WANTING to draw.
Some of you may remember back in 2014 I published a small print run collecting some of my Daily Sketches. DAILY GRIND vol 1. We’ll be going back to print on that very soon, along with a brand new DAILY GRIND vol 2! Until then, Premium Subscribers will have access to a FREE DIGITAL COPY of DAILY GRIND vol 1! Subscribe now and go get your copy!
Check out a few picks from the last 10 years worth of sketches, all coming in future volumes of DAILY GRIND.
Don’t forget to swing over to SKOTTIEYOUNG.COM for books, prints and original art!
Awesome work! Looks great. I need to develop a habit like this! 🙌🍻🔥
Outstanding work. I’m hoping to explore some of my creative outlets a bit more now that the shop is doing quite well, and a lot of this energy on Substack is proving quite infectious…