On Illustrating One Hundred Verses.

One year, three months and twenty-six days from the day I started, I finished illustrating 100 Bible verses. 

I said I’d finish in a year...

At least I finished. 

And in the same way I didn’t finish in the time frame I thought, the results were different than anticipated. 

In life we expect things, all sorts of things and events and outcomes, yet rarely are they what we imagine, sometimes not better or worse, just different. 

So when I set on this journey inspired by various sources, I thought in the back of my head, though never admitting it, that I would become wildly well known, end up with a few thousand Instagram followers, I’d become incredibly inventive while honing the skills I had, my personal design business would soar and smack in the middle of the glam there would be a set of brilliantly designed verses of Scripture. Ironic, right?

Yet, instead I gained much, much more. 

I learned the things I didn’t think I needed to. 

• If you don’t start anything until you think you’re good enough, or your idea is good enough, you’ll never do anything. You’ll stunt your growth and waste your talent. Rough drafts matter.

• There’s always intrepidation with putting out in public any type of art - music, writing, painting - but you have to put out there. It produces in you fearlessness towards perfection. #progressnotperfection, those hashtaggers say. 

• Boundaries are the best. Differing mediums bring limitations that cause you to be creative within the fence. For example, print is different than web only designs, handlettering is different than something exclusively digital. Purpose is important.

• Do the hard work. Even when all inspiration seems lost, fight through it. Sometimes the best work is at the bottom of the barrel. Don’t be lazy. 

• In the quest to be a better artist, you have to open your eyes and be a great observer of life. The way light casts shadows or serifs produce formality. What makes good art good, and bad art bad.

• Be faithful to use your gifts, because God has called you to be a steward of them. Still, you must diligently practice and exercise that talent. 

• Ultimately the Lord will put your work before those who need to see it. Proverbs says 22:29 says, “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings...” Ahhh, pressure’s off. Even if one person was moved to glorify God by seeing an illustrated Bible verse, it was all worth it. Actually, even if that didn't happened the work the Lord manifested in me was worth it. 

I may not have become the next big thing, and while was my proficiency wasn’t perfected to the level I demanded and I didn’t think out of the box as often as I would have liked, in the end I saw that it was not about me and building my kingdom, but much more about Him and His glory, which is why, though my expectations were not met, there is not one single ounce of regret.