At the end of each year, I write a post here to forecast the projects I hope to complete in the year ahead. My forecasts have proven to be wildly inaccurate. That’s because I have the freedom to procrastinate and shift my priorities at any point. Indeed, that freedom is one of the reasons I love my self-inflicted projects.
This year, I’m going to take a different approach.
Rather than incorrectly predicting which projects I plan to bring to Kickstarter in 2023, I'm just going to share 10 drawing themes I expect to be exploring in my sketchbook. Maybe some of them will lead to projects. Maybe not. But here, in no particular order, are some of the topics I hope to be sketching in 2023.
1 Irksome Banes: We are all surrounded by things that cause annoyance and distress—spiders, volcanoes, voracious omnivores. All the stuff I like to draw. So, capturing assorted inconveniences in my sketchbook is sure to be part of 2023.
2 Opossums: Those quirky little prehistoric marsupials are everyone’s favorite opportunistic omnivores. And they are also fun to draw.
3 Troglodytes: I never tire of drawing our ancient, cave-dwelling ancestors or cataloging their timeless wisdom.
4 Curiosity Cabinets: Collecting the rare, unusual, and mysterious is a defining human urge. And so is drawing all that junk. I’m in.
5 Pizza: one of the greatest human innovations, right up there with paper, pillows, heated car seats, and ice cream. In 2023, I plan to do my part to celebrate the crowning human accomplishment that is pizza.
6 Aliens:Drawing aliens is always a pleasant way to fill a sketchbook. So I do.
7 Exotic Letters: Once you start looking for them, you’ll see them everywhere. Exuberant, irrepressible, and peppy letterforms are a joy to draw. (And, someday, they might be useful to make ransom notes.)
8 Old automobiles: I've always had a soft spot for vintage cars and trucks. So, part of 2023 needs to be dedicated to drawing classics—famous and forgotten.
9 Jet Packs: Weren’t we all supposed to have these by now? Still eagerly waiting for mine. Meanwhile, drawing jet packs, ray guns, and similar paraphernalia is a good way to fill the time waiting.
10 Gaily we prance about. I can offer no explanation, but drawing creatures cavorting seems like a natural topic for me. So, 2023 will see creatures in tutus strutting and gamboling.
That’s not all. Other drawing themes that didn’t make this top-10 list are brains in jars, dinosaurs, robots doing housework, dogs playing poker, quadrupeds, and any creature sporting tentacles.
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Kickstarter? I hope to launch a few Kickstarter projects in 2023 at a non-hectic pace. If everything goes right, you’ll see prints, porcelain, textiles, an illustrated book, and a game to enhance your cognitive powers. (But when does everything ever go right?)
Limited Influence. You might feel tempted to write and tell me which products you want me to work on. Go ahead. But don’t expect an individual reply and don’t expect me to actually shift my priorities just because you want me to draw cats, pasta, weasels, or spatterdashes.
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Don—Pittsburgh, December 29, 2022
Copyright 2022. Don't duplicate without permission.
Darlene Smith-Ash
June 29, 2023
I don’t know what #10 is, but I like it a lot. Opossums also seem to be getting quite the paws up signs. I had a dream that they were playing soccer with some armadillos. Octo-alien referees? I’ll leave it at that. (Q: how did all you wierd people find each other?)
Thankyouthankyouthankyou