Sometime in 2007, I came across a small notebook I had lying around my room. It was a bunch of colored papers that were Japanese-bound together, and it was completely empty. Back then, my work was mostly in high contrast black and white. It seemed like the right time to try something different. I set two rules for myself:
1) No penciling. Everything had to be done directly with ink without a plan (I started breaking that rule halfway through the notebook).
2) Every page had to use a new pattern or combination of patterns that I had not attempted before.
Early in 2010, I ran out of pages and haven't found the time to start a new notebook (yet). I'd advise anyone reading who's an illustrator or likes to draw (or whatever else) to try this sort of ongoing project. There's no deadline, no style to be adhered to other than whatever rules you might impose upon yourself, and the only purpose is to try things out. It was extremely liberating.
Some of the drawings from this journal were exhibited at a larger size during the FLUKS exhibition on January 15th. The following are the ones that got shown (recolored here with a different limitation):
