Drawing Day 2008 - a success and an inspiration

2008 was the first year of our Drawing Day initiative and considering we had only 5 weeks from the launch of our website until the actual event - the results were very inspiring. Google returns over 180,000 results from the phrase "drawing day 08" - most of these from bloggers supporting the event. From the response and constant emails we received, we know that Drawing Day is something the art world really needs and loves. 1 million drawings in a day was a huge goal and we were far from being close, but there is no way we're going to stop striving for this magic number in the years ahead. Like any event in it's first year, we can only improve and it makes us more determined.

View a gallery of results from our 2008 Drawing Day event

The countdown to 2009 begins. The good news is, next year we'll be off to a flying start and rather than having 5 weeks to prepare for the event - we have 12 months! Whatever you do, don't forget about Drawing Day - we will reach our goal and we still need your support. We will be updating our website with many new features getting prepared for the next event and we have plenty of awesome ideas (some suggestions sent to us from you). We always welcome more suggestions so keep sending them to us!

Drawing Day rocked (and keeps on rock'n)

For some parts of the world Drawing Day (June 7) has ended, however it's not too late to contribute. Many of our Drawing Day supporting communities are hosting weekend long events to celebrate Drawing Day. So keep on drawing at any of our participating communities.

So how are we tracking so far? It's always going to be difficult to measure any exact number of drawings, but for our first year it has been nothing less than an amazing success. Drawings will no doubt keep dribbling in to the communities over the coming week while people scan their drawings or add finishing touches to their digital artwork.

If you want to sample some of the drawings created so far, then check out the Drawing Day galleries at these communities...

Drawings at: DeviantArt, RateMyDrawings, YouTube, Red Bubble, Flickr, Facebook, Amateur Illustrator, creativestem, how-to-draw-cartoons-online, Paper Demon, BrooklynArtProject, SecondLife

It's 2008 Drawing Day - Drop everything and Draw!

WOooah! It's Drawing Day - Start Drawing!
Depending on your location around the world, Drawing Day has already started!
If you've just learned about our event, it's simple... All you have to do is submit drawings at any of the art communities listed on our website on June 7. Some communities are running weekend long events so don't worry if you miss this day! Also be sure to join our Facebook Group, Flickr Group, and YouTube channel.

Please spread the word about this event to all your friends! If you haven't picked up a pencil in a while, then today is the day.

We're encouraging everyone to Download this Drawing Day image here, and upload it to every art gallery you have on DeviantArt, AmateurIllustrator, Flickr, etc. and upload the image as a photo to your Facebook, MySpace, or any social networking website.

Lets make everyone see this image on Drawing Day!

Thank you to all the supporting art communities and for all the artists out there participating. Keep checking this blog throughout the weekend as we'll be updating our progress and adding links to various online galleries as they grow.

Drawing Day - Days away, get ready to draw!

OK, this is where we get on our knees and beg you to spread the world about Drawing Day more than ever ;) Email all your friends and let them know you'll be drawing and tell them to keep an eye out for your drawings online.

As much as drawing on the day is what it's all about, please share links to your drawings with all your friends. Spreading the word is just as important on Drawing Day. The larger art communities will all take notice if they start to see a huge influx of drawings tagged with the words "drawing day" in their titles and descriptions so be sure to do that. Join our groups on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc. - it really does make a difference!

We also would like to really encourage some of you to record video captures of you drawing in illustrator, photoshop, MS Paint, etc. and we will feature these videos on our YouTube channel. If you have a webcam, you can even record yourself drawing on paper.

Excited yet? We are!

Can a few artists create a worldwide drawing event?

So a few of us came up with the idea of Drawing Day. With one week to go we're pretty excited - I mean how can you just make up an event and expect the whole world to participate?



It's a good question but the answer is pretty simple really. Because we can ;)

It's a really exciting time on the web where social networking has such an amazing power. There are average Joe's (and Jill's) making YouTube videos about scratching their nose with their left index finger capturing the attention of millions of viewers.

The great thing about Drawing Day is that it's an art event, and you won't find more passionate people than artists. We have some awesome art communities getting involved in Drawing Day but what's really interesting when we look at the traffic statistics of the Drawing Day website is that collectively we get more people visiting our website from single passionate artists than any other way. We receive emails every day from single artists saying "We love this event and totally support it and will write a blog". Sure, this blog might only send us 10 visitors, but when there are hundreds of you artists doing this is really adds up!

So, there may only be a few individuals behind this initiative, but with all the artists around the world getting excited that's one big voice. Remember, we're doing this out of love and have no funding, have never asked for donations and are simply relying on the artists voice and the power of the web.

So here's what we need to really make a statement...
DIGG this story, show the world that a few passionate artists can be backed by a world of passionate artists and come up with a world-wide event that injects the web with more drawings and art than you can poke a mouse at.

Rules and Limitations for Drawing Day (There are none)

We've received a few emails recently from artists asking things like "How many drawings can I create" and "What types of things can I draw".

Quite simply the answers are: Draw as many as you can in a day, and draw anything you like. We have no strict rules or policies for Drawing Day. We're really just here to help bring everyone together on one day to encourage you all to draw. It is totally up to you where you want to draw, what subject matter, what medium you use, how many you create, where you post your drawings, etc.

You're the artist, you make the decisions, we're just here to let everyone know about the event.

Drawing Day Launches -- Artists Embrace Web 2.0 (Press Release)

To help promote our event, we're happy to announce the Drawing Day 2008 official press release. To view the press release please visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/drawingday/2008/prweb939464.htm

A special thanks to Dave Conrey (http://blog.daveconrey.com/) for his rock solid pr skills to help craft our press release and express the Drawing Day mission and goals to the world.

Side Note: Thank you bloggers - keep blogging
I just want to thank everyone who has been blogging about Drawing Day. It amazes me how many bloggers feel the importance of talk about our event. You may not all reach a large audience but collectively there are hundreds of referrers to our website each day from artists like you with a voice. If you own a blog and haven't mentioned Drawing Day yet, get to it!