A Multipotentialite Embarks on A 100 Day Project

Written by Jill Myer

My Milinote research and planning board is complete, with my goals, the rules I set for myself, my schedule, and links to the research I did on other 100-day projects specifically for illustrators.

I love to plan a new project with nothing but potential and new discoveries on the horizon!
And a 100-day project, while long, is achievable. You can already see the light at the end of the tunnel - it’s a pinprick of light, but it is there.

THE PURPOSE:


The advantage of a 100 Day project is learning a new skill or sharpening an existing one fast!

Not that 100 days is fast.
It’s just over 3 months of dedicated time and energy.
But in the grand scheme of things, catapulting a skill set to the next several levels in only three months feels pretty fast!

In 2024, I embarked on a 100-day project focused on learning the digital art app Procreate on my iPad. I drew my tea mug each morning.
I only made it to 75 days because I learned so much in such a short time that each drawing went from 20-30 minutes each morning to taking several hours/days to complete.

And.
I felt comfortable leaving it at 75 days because I had shown myself I knew the program. Indeed, I knew the program well enough to receive commissioned pieces of my digital art for a wholesale account.

With the onslaught of AI, I find myself wanting to distance myself as far as possible from anything that might be construed as machine- or AI-made, fed, and/or slopped all over.

So what do I have in store for myself beginning on November 1, 2026?
I have been flirting with the idea of Illustration for a while. I follow and belong to several communities focused on illustration, especially picture book illustration. But I still haven't put together an illustration portfolio, which I need to get illustration work.

THE PROJECT

100 days of illustration.

The Goals:

  1. OVERALL GOAL - 8-10 finished images to start an illustration portfolio with.

  2. Define & set my illustration style - Playful, Endearing, & quirky.

  3. Character design and consistency.

  4. Practice documenting my work - a blog post at the end of each 10-day run.

The Rules:

  • 10 characters - each gets 10 days

  • Work on the project for 30-60 min/day for 100 days.

    • 5-10 min on documenting the process.

      1. Post my progress at least 2x/week on social

      2. 1 blog post every 10 days.

  • A very short story or caption to go along with each drawing

  • Each drawing needs to have at least one unique object that is out of place.

    • A fork in the garden, a traffic cone in the sky, a houseplant on a train, a boot floating in a pond, a duck in a library.

  • Simplified shapes - lots of scribbles

  • Limited color palette

  • It has to make me laugh or giggle.

  • 10 characters - each character gets a full character worksheet and 6-8 scenes.

The Schedule:

Day 1- 3: Character Study

Day 1 of 100

Character Study -
Roxy Rose

  • 8-10 facial expressions

    • Happy, surprised, bad, fearful, angry, disgusted, sad

  • Size and shape comparison

  • Accessories

  • Make an image reference board with a color palette

  • Home - the place that they live inside and out

    1. A gingerbread house, a shoe, a birdhouse, a hollowed-out tree, etc

    2. The thing in their room that makes it theirs - posters, furniture, etc.

Day 4 -9

For each scene, do 6 thumbnail sketches

  • Eating Soup (messy)
    Surprised - Disgusted

    • Scene is at a table.

      1. Gross

      2. It probably spills - or gets everywhere

  • Running (active - hard)
    PROUD - happy

    • exertion, joy, freedom,

    • running next to a bike, or a friend

    • The juxtaposition of size and camera angle can be fun here.

  • Riding a bike (active - challenge)
    WORRIED - fear.

    • Puffing up a hill,

    • Trying to get somewhere on time.

  • Interaction with a small bug
    CURIOUS - surprise

    • Close-up shot

  • Stubbing their toe, or a skinned knee
    HURT - sad

    • Tears, anger

  • Sleeping in the garden or sleeping in a flower
    SLEEPY - peaceful

    • safe

  • Knitting, drawing, or working on a puzzle
    Concentration - Focus

    • tangle of yarn

  • Outside their home gardening - something is broken or ruined
    DISAPPOINTED - sad

  • Alone on a playground
    BORED - lonely
    Taking a bath CHEEKY - happy

    • because too dirty, mud everywhere

DAY 10 - (2-4hrs)
A final artwork drawing of my fav from the 6 sketches above.

Research Links

When planning this project, I searched the webs for 100-day Illustration projects for beginning illustrators.
I didn’t get very far, it was all very generic advice, but I found these projects listed below and borrowed parts and pieces that I thought would be useful for my intended outcome of this project.

100 Days of Papercuts by Melissa McFeeters

100 Day Project Halfway Point by Rebecca Gomez

100 Days of Web Characters by Rich Armstrong

Mary Kate McDevitt’s 100 Days of People and Pets

Ten Minute Artist by Adam Ming on Substack

https://www.feelingswheel.com

I’m curious if you have done a 100-day project, and what your core take away was. If you haven’t, would you consider it, and if so what would you want to spend 100 day doing?
Please let me know in the comments below!

Jill Myer