While I’m on the topic of missed features: I have not been doing thing-a-week for a while now. No sketching, no drawing, no Illustrator editing, no photographing, no Photoshopping.

But, I have been knitting up a storm, so I figure it evens out in the end. I posted a ton of photos of finished and unfinished knitting projects on Sunday, March 7, if you wanna take a look at some of the stuff I have been up to.

For my photography project this week, I practiced changing the shutter speed.


Shutter 1/60, F 4.5, ISO 1600


Shutter 1/50, F 4.5, ISO 1600


Shutter 1/40, F 4.5, ISO 1600


Shutter 1/30, F 4.5, ISO 1600


Shutter 1/25, F 4.5, ISO 1600

This week’s drawing project is a study in faces.

Apple – Monochrome colour setting


Apple – Faithful colour setting


Apple – Layers effects


Apple – Faithful colour setting, Gaussian Blur effect


Apple – multiple effects

Girl – original sketch


Girl – Live Trace with edits


Girl – Live Trace with edits and colour

[@WannabeMomErin Jan 16, 2010 10:59 AM]

thing-a-week is a new feature on my blog, which I originally introduced in a post on Saturday, Jan 9, 2010.

thing-a-week is inspired by indie singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton’s project by the same name, in which he released a new original recording every week from September 2005 to September 2006. You can read more about that project here.

I wrote a couple of posts over the New Year’s long weekend talking about some goals I have for 2010 – I don’t do resolutions. Those goals included learning how to use the features on the Canon Rebel XTi – rather than taking all my photos on fully automatic mode – improving my sketching and drawing skills and learning how to edit my sketches and drawings in Adobe Illustrator in the hopes of eventually producing a web comic.

The thing about these goals is that they are overwhelming. The gap between using the DSLR camera in fully automatic mode to knowing how each function works and how to use it properly to take photos in fully manual mode is HUGE. The gap between not drawing at all and producing a web comic is even HUGER. I can’t even begin to plot out a plan to achieve these goals when taken in the context of starting at my current skill level and ending up at my goal skill level. Within days of committing the goals to paper – albeit virtual, electronic paper – I already doubted that I would ever achieve them, let alone within a year.

Enter thing-a-week. I figure I can easily commit to producing one drawing or sketch per week; I can easily commit to editing one drawing or sketch in Adobe Illustrator; I can easily commit to taking one photograph per week using manual settings on the DSLR camera, and even to editing one photograph in Adobe Photoshop. Over the course of 52 weeks, I will have made 52 drawings or sketches, I will have edited 52 drawings or sketches, I will have experimented with camera settings 52 times. Hopefully, I will have learned something along the way. Hopefully, I will have developed some new skills along the way. Hopefully, I will have improved my techniques along the way.

The beauty of thing-a-week is that it can easily be applied to a multitude of goals, not just those involving learning new skills. It can easily be modified to help you incorporate new habits, like getting more exercise or eating healthier. For example, if I’d like to prepare more home-cooked meals; I commit to making a home-cooked meal once a week – at first, over time I can always increase it to twice or three times a week. Or if I’d like to read more; I commit to reading a chapter once a week. I’m sure you get the picture. By breaking down the overall goal in smaller, more easily managed tasks – with shorter deadlines – the overwhelming goal of exercising more or eating right for an entire year, becomes a far less daunting goal of exercising once (or twice or three times) or eating right THIS WEEK. It’s just for a week, folks. That’s seven short days.

I invite all my friends to join me in the thing-a-week challenge. It’s simple, once a week do one thing that brings you closer to any goal you have, then write a blog post about it.

[@WannabeMomErin Jan 16, 2010 9:59 AM]