One thing I’ve learned from drawing a series of 50 improvised illustrations over 77 days: I never learn more than when I actually do the thing I said I wanted to get better at.
Triggers
- 10th March 2026 – Stumbled upon a podcast (Thoughts on Illustration with Tom Froese / Just Add a Line with Brand Campbell) and pre-ordered Drawing is Important by Tom Froese and Just Add a Line by Brand Campbell.
- 9th April 2026 – Received Drawing is Important and started reading. Super inspiring take on the practice of drawing every day, told through the perspective of different artists, including the author. Couldn’t resist for long.
- 10-14th April 2026 – Bought new pens, a pencil case, a sketchbook. Set the rules, reset the technique, started experimenting, posted a few things, then deleted them (see False start).
- 15th April 2026 – Got comfortable with the initial approach (sharpie + digital paint) and posted my first daily drawing on Instagram.
Series
The main difference from my 2012 project Charactron was that I set no rules around style, subject, or technique consistency. That freedom let me experiment, break habits, and maybe find my next path as an illustrator. A few series carried the project.
A. The sharpies
Started with time in mind. No draft, straight to line drawing with a black sharpie, colour added in Procreate. Fat lines mean fewer details and faster execution.
B. The ballpoints
Closest to Charactron, using my beloved fine ballpoint Bic. Still no draft, messier lines, but much bigger drawings. Finer lines mean more detail and slower execution.
C. The tunes
Shaped my Instagram posts toward reel territory by pairing 30-second Procreate time-lapses with the right tunes. I stuck with that format to the end.
D. The timelapses
Started sharing more… of my hands. Experimented with different drawing timelapses. It was fun to watch myself draw, but it raised the pressure to actually execute. Something I’ll come back to.
E. The loop
Composed one single scene, adding one improvised character at a time, over 7 days. I called this “Spontaneous loop.” The whole thing was filmed live and compiled into a 3-minute timelapse. The pressure on the last few days, to not mess it up, was high. Loved every minute of it.
F. The line drops
On the final leg, I circled back to my complicated relationship with line drawing. I’ve spent years going back and forth between chunky black lines and no lines at all, never quite finding the right balance. Good opportunity to experiment more and hopefully find my footing.
False start
Every time I start something new, the first few attempts rarely hit the mark, and that held true here too. But I wouldn’t have made the later drawings without these first ones.
Outcome
The main reason daily drawing appeals to me is the lack of pressure. Something can turn out badly on a given day, and I can still be excited to try something new, and maybe better, the next. Because in the end, it doesn’t matter.
What matters is keeping the momentum going: training myself to experiment with technique, finally getting comfortable with colour, breaking out of my comfort zone. And instead of spending that time on one single large illustration, I ended up with 50 of them. I like all of them, because each one taught me something I can reuse in future work. That’s how I build things. That’s why I do what I do.
I could have kept going, but of course dedicating most evenings to this for about 2.5 months was pretty intense. Here’s to the next ones. It won’t be daily, but it will keep happening.
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77 days done, 50 drawings in, more on the way. If you want to see where the sharpies, the ballpoints or the line drops go next, follow along on Instagram @juliendecaudin. Making things up mostly daily.