I made a tumblr for my project where I’ll draw 1000 mugs: drawing1000mugs

Reflections.

I don’t know if anyone is still here, but since it’s been almost a year since I ended this project, I’ve been reflecting on it, and I thought I’d share my thoughts in case it might help prevent someone from making the same mistakes I made. What I miss the most about Positive Doodles is the structure it gave me. Each day, I knew what I would make: a positive doodle. Without it, I’ve felt a bit lost, and I’ve often wasted hours trying to decide what to draw. Now I keep an ordered list of smaller personal projects associated with each day (ex: wednesday = coffee mug drawing), so when I can’t think of anything to draw within 10 minutes, I just do the prompt associated with whatever day it is. It saves me from wasting a lot of time trying to decide. There are other ways to do it, but I highly recommend keeping a list of back-up prompts in case you feel creatively blocked. You don’t even have to make it yourself. Googling “creativity prompts” or “illustration prompts” will give you many great options. What I miss the least is feeling confined by the title I gave this project. Positive Doodles was a title that helped me career-wise. It was easy to remember, descriptive, and didn’t require me to put a lot of effort into each piece.  But if I could go back, I would name it something that forced me to work harder. Focusing on doodling for so many years was, unsurprisingly, not good for my artistic skills, and I have to work very hard now to catch up to where I could have been if I’d pushed harder when I was younger. I am improving, but it’s taking time, so I wish I’d started earlier.  Another thing I wish I’d done is promote my other social media accounts more. I knew tumblr wasn’t going to stay big forever and I had to share my work elsewhere if I wanted to keep my career going, but my anxiety made me afraid to do anything that might bring more attention to me (even if that attention would have been great for my career), so I always pushed it off to “tomorrow”, and by the time I finally did it, I’d wasted years I could have spent building an audience on other platforms.  I also miss the community feeling of the early days of tumblr, and how fun it was to just make whatever weird art came to mind, talk with amazing people, and over-analyze small details from tv shows. But that experience was already over for me long before I left tumblr. Social media platforms change a lot, and in ways users have no control over.  In the future, I’ll try to focus more on finding offline communities so that those relationships aren’t so dependent on social media platforms, or at least on integrating my social media friendships more into the rest of my life, so I’m more likely to keep them.  Still, when I think back on this project, I’m mostly just proud that I did something for multiple years, often updating multiple times a day. It taught me that I was capable of finishing a big project one small part at a time. I’m excited to still be making art and I look forward to creating more projects in the future. My most recent project is to try draw 1000 mugs. I’m on mug #30. I haven’t made a specific page for that project yet, but I’ve been sharing it on all my social media pages along with my other art. If you’re interested, you can check it out on instagram facebook twitter

Happy New Year! This is my last post (though I might update it with more links if I start new social media pages.) I considered other things besides ending the blog such as changing the name so it would reflect the new work I’m doing, or even just posting my new work here even if most of it isn’t positive doodles anymore, but I’m proud of the work I did on positive doodles, and I’d like the project to remain up as it is for people who just want to enjoy the doodles.

Thank you so much for following this blog and sharing my doodles. My favorite part of doing this was getting to talk to amazing people. Also, sometimes people would share my doodles and tag their friends in them and say the kindest things to their friends while doing so, and I loved getting to see that. 

People here helped me when I needed it, and I’ll always be grateful for that, and I hope that I always remember to pay that kindness forward. I’ve had a lot of fun running this blog! But it’s made me realize how much I love art, and how much I want to improve at it, and I think I’ve improved as much as I could while doodling. It’s time for me to get out of my comfort zone and really make time to learn illustration and cartooning. 

I’ve started previewing my new stuff around last October, so if you’ve been enjoying the things I’ve posted since then (the elephant and mouse comics, the personal positive drawings featuring a mouse version of myself, and my series of reasons to make things), you should follow me on my other social media pages so you can keep up with those. If you want to contact me, my email is emmroy.art@gmail.com and you can find me on: - instagram - facebook - twitter.  Thank you for everything and may this year be everything you want it to be.

[4-panel comic.  Panel 1: A mouse asks “What if I’m too old to make new friends?” to an elephant who replies “You can make friends at any age.” Panel 2: The mouse says “What if I’m too boring to make new friends?” The elephant says “You’re not boring.” Panel 3: The mouse says “What if I’m not likable enough to make new friends?” The elephant says “Plenty of people will like you.”  Panel 4: The elephant says “It’s okay to be scared and have doubts, but you can do this. It will be fine.”]

[3-panel comic. Panel 1: I don’t want to face my feelings. I don’t want to deal with things. *drawing of a mouse in bed* Panel 2: But if I don’t, things won’t get better. *drawing of a mouse wrapped in a blanket and holding a coffee mug* Panel 3: So I’m doing what I need now to have better later, and I don’t love it, but I can do it. I’m strong enough, and it will be fine. *drawing of a mug, a book, paper, a pen, and a laptop on a table.*]

Reminder: I added a new reward tier to my patreon. It’s a series of drawings centered on the phrases “It will be okay.” and “I’m going to be okay.”

[Drawing of a seal making a snowman with a caption that says “Reason to make things (if you want) #12: Because if someone you loved wanted to make things, you would support them, and you deserve to treat yourself like someone you love.”]

[Drawing of flowers with a caption that says “It’s unfair to be told you’re using your illness as an excuse not to try when you try so hard all the time. I see you. I know how hard you work and how much you’ve survived. You have every reason to be proud of yourself.”]

[4-panel comic. A mouse and an elephant are talking. Panel 1: The mouse says “Sometimes I think it might be nice to make new friends.” Panel 2: The mouse says “But I just don’t have the energy to be fun and interesting. I’m so tired.” Panel 3: The elephant says “First, you are fun and interesting.” Panel 4: The elephant says “Second, people will understand that you’re tired. It will be fine.”]

reminder: I have another illustration project on patreon.

[4-panel comic.  Panel 1: A mouse says “I really appreciate your support.” to an elephant. Panel 2: The mouse says “But when you tell me I’m doing great, and I still think I’m doing a bad job, I feel like I’m letting you down.” Panel 3: The elephant says “You’re not letting anyone down.” Panel 4: The elephant says “Sometimes it’s hard to believe in yourself even when others believe in you.”]

reminder: I have another illustration project on patreon.

reminder: I have another illustration project about coziness and joy on patreon.

[drawing of a mouse sitting on a pile of books and holding a cup of coffee with a caption that says “I’ll be okay. ‘But what about...?’ I’ll be okay despite that. “But what about...?” Despite that too. “But what if...?” I’ll find a way. It will be okay.”]