[Perfect Day] How Starting a 365-Day Challenge Will Transform Your Life

This is the story of why I started a daily comic challenge and how it took me from being a jack-of-all-trades to a master of one, among other perks. If you just want the step-by-step guide, skip down to the Process section. (:
— Andrew, F the Lines

November 14, 2019—I drew a couple of lines then scribbled them out and slumped down in my chair. The piece of paper in front of me was a war zone. Half-drawn heads, wobbly cups of coffee, and crooked guitars stared back like soldiers begging for a medic.

This was supposed to be the new me.

Yesterday, I had decided to start a 365-day challenge where I would draw comics for a whole year, but here I was on Day One and I couldn’t come up with a single idea. Everything looked like garbage.

I scanned the room for inspiration and suddenly it occurred to me…

Oh…there’s an anaconda on my desk!

I had wrapped this giant stuffed snake around my computer a couple of weeks ago and had completely forgotten it was there.

This time, when I picked up my pencil, everything just flowed. The thick lines and stark contrast of black on white felt like a goofy-yet-refined lovechild of The New Yorker and…