Tuesday, October 1, 2013

A Delightful Discipline


Flight is for the flying.
© Kevan J. Atteberry


Back in the fall of 2011, illustrator Kevan Atteberry was looking for a challenge. 

He wanted to do some kind of exercise in self-discipline — something that would force him to do one creative thing each and every day.

Then on October 1st it hit him in a beastly sort of way —

“I’m going to draw a monster a day for the entire month of October,” he said to himself…

and his 1000+ friends on Facebook. Yes, this guy is brave!

Then he did it.

He found the process thrilling and maybe a little scary. Well, they were monsters, after all.

Actually, the scary parts were those days when he was sure that the well of beasts had run dry.

But somehow, when Kevan looked deep down inside…

He always found one more monster.

Which is pretty amazing considering that he is a super-nice guy.

On some days he used news events. Like when he heard that Steve Jobs had died on October 5th, he altered his illustration to reflect that. He also created a monster birthday tribute to John Lennon on the 8th.  

Of course, Monster-a-Day was a huge success! His friends loved that daily creature feature, and some were even lucky enough to win autographed prints in a contest he held at the end.

Did I tell you he was a nice guy?

You can check out a sampling from his Monster Albums here.

It’s the coolest form of self-discipline I've ever seen. And you know…

“With self-discipline most anything is possible.”
~Theodore Roosevelt

I’m thinking Teddy was just a tad tentative here because he obviously didn't have monsters…

Everybody knows that with self-discipline and monsters, EVERYTHING is possible.

Everything.

Thanks, Kevan, for the inspiration!


PROMPT: Give yourself 30 days of discipline. And since October happens to have 31— you've got a bonus day to decide what you’ll do. For some terrific ideas, check out this TED talk by Matt Cutts. Then be sure to add MONSTERS...
Boogie Monster and Tickle Monster written by Josie Bissett and illustrated by Kevan J. Atteberry! 

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