IllustrationFriday.com & my Art Sunday

I've been following this site called Illustration Friday for a while now. I discovered it when searching for sites to link to from my art blog:

Illustration Friday is meant to challenge participants creatively. We believe that every person has a little creative bone in their body. Illustration Friday just gives a no-pressure, fun excuse to use it. No clients looking for a particular thing. No one judging the outcome of the work. It's a chance to experiment and explore and play with visual art. Curious about collage? Try it here. Never even picked up a colored pencil? Why not now? Just have time for a doodle? That's okay, we'd love to see it. You don't have to be an illustrator or an artist to participate. Just pick up a pencil, for the love of pete.

I signed up for their mailing list some time ago and have been receiving alerts on themes for the week. This week was on "Monsters" (received the mail on Friday) and this morning, I decided to submit this one on the right (url link only; you don't have to upload anything to Illustration Friday).

Didn't really expect much to happen, but pretty soon a few comments came in. Naturally they were illustrators too (who participated in Illustration Friday). I was blown away by their works in their blogs/ websites like this one, this, this, this and this... sorry if I left anyone out. Too many to list here. They are all good. It was really interesting to see how different people interpreted the same theme.

Feeling much encouraged, I submitted another "Monster" link and the traffic to MyRightBrain has been climbing the last time I checked.

It's gratifying to know that people are looking at my work, and it's equally gratifying to look at others who share a love and interest in art. Certainly learnt more than a thing or two (some ideas and techniques I'd want to try in the near future). Also made a point to comment, to let them know I dropped by and what I liked about their work.

Did I tell you I love the Blogosphere?

Coincidentally, my wife bought me a sketch book when we went shopping this afternoon. We reached home. I started doodling. One sketch let to another, and another. The works won't earn me a place in art houses anytime soon but it was a fun exercise. Gave me a sense of purpose, even. I'll scan and post them up soon.