Happy New Year! 2017 just finished, and 2018 just started. I’m finishing this year with a cold. Here then, as is annual now, are all of my sketches from the year in one handy chart. A lot of the later sketches haven’t been posted yet (I only just scanned all of November and December tonight…there were not that many).

I drew a lot of Lego this past year. And people, mostly kids playing soccer. Christmas trees made a late surge. The shoes are back, and there were a few hydrants as well, and many obligatory plane/train sketches. A lot of travel was done, to Rome, to Venice (both of them), to London, to Hawaii, to LA, and other places besides. It was a very busy year, and to be honest some of it was a blur. Much of the year has been a steep learning curve too. I didn’t write a book this year though; in fact I didn’t do much writing in general, and that more than anything is something I need to improve upon in 2018. WRITE MORE. Write AT ALL. I sketched more in 2017, at least in the first half of the year, but there was a slight dip after Italy (well, what is sketchworthy after Italy?) and then a significant drop in sketching frequency in November and December, and even October was papered over by the fact I drew loads of small Lego sketches for Inktober rather than get out looking for things to sketch, but time has been limited. I’ve also started feeling the exhaustion of subjects in Davis; last year I determined to draw as many century-old buildings in this city, and I kinda did that, even creating a map for the centenary of Davis becoming a city (for the March sketchcrawl). There was no Urban Sketching Symposium for me this year, nor was there a themed London Sketchcrawl, so perhaps they will feature again in 2018. Again I did that thing where I failed to submit a workshop for the 2018 USk Symposium because I was just not confident enough in my ideas, but I did teach one workshop on perspective in San Francisco last June which I really enjoyed and hope was useful to those who took it. One thing I will do this year is learn the ukelele. I got one for Christmas, having taken a lesson with my son at Aulani in Oahu in November. I think I need a bit more music. 2017 was pretty hard going, news headlines and social media being a daily wind-up, and while I’m still begrudgingly reading the Twitters, aka the 24-hour hate, increasingly filled with battle droids and clones, I have limited posting on the Facebooks. I’m posting sometimes on the Instagrams which seems a lot less mentally irregular, but I haven’t got the hang of it yet. I have started making Lego animations, which unfortunately I won’t show you, but they are very fun to create. Anyway if I have any more resolutions, among them would be to go to more new places, see more new things. I did that in 2017, and those were for sure the highlights. I hope you have a great 2018, and if you don’t, well I hope you have a great 2019.

Oh yes, here is the comparison of the past five years of sketches. I have increased the productivity each year, and this year despite the dip I still came out ahead. I predict next year will be fewer sketches, but who knows? Maybe I will do even more.

Happy New Year again!