Having completed the 66th girl for my 100 Girl Art Book project, I felt it important to remind myself why I am doing this and what direction it’s going in.

What is the point of the 100 Girl Book? What is it for? Why am I doing it?

To produce a tangible product to sell on and offline. The idea was to produce and/or collect 100 unique illustrations of black women I’ve done, put them in a book, print it and sell it digitally as well, along with prints of the more successful illustrations from the book. I originally started the project because I realized that one part of becoming a professional artist is putting myself out there at conventions and such, but I had no tangible products to peddle. I spent so many years making art and starting projects, but never finishing anything or taking things to a real physical conclusion; despite having over a thousand images online (at my deviantART for instance), I literally have nothing to take to a convention and market as something that represents me as an artist, and I’ve attempted so many things (novels, comics, pinups, commissioned colors, even some 3D) that I don’t know who Jonathan Price the artist really is.

I figured, since I was doing all these “Random Practice Babes”, and I was enjoying them, it was clear that this theme was the driving force that compelled me to keep making art. It was clear that I was either unwilling or unable to keep telling myself I was some sort of comic book artist when drawing comics is something I basically had to force myself to do, while drawing these women was more enjoyable, led to my art getting more attention and sometimes commissions, etc.

However, the more of them I do (and the more I find myself refining old drawings instead of making new ones), the more I start thinking, how many is enough? If I want to use this as a portfolio of some kind, 10-20 of them would have been more than sufficient. Are these drawings really showcasing my skill? Are they at all marketable? Am I doing the wrong thing with my skill? I’ve entertained the thought that maybe I’m not much of a ‘fine artist’ and I should devote my art to being part of something greater, like a comic book, a game, etc., and trying to sell something on the strength of my drawing alone is hurting more than helping me. Hell, if I said the goal was to produce 50 images for a book, no one would be saying “no, go for 100”. The only reason that number is mentioned is because I originally mentioned it, and the plan can change.

I have other ideas that I could visualize being used to represent me at conventions and such, comic ideas, story ideas, and a part of me is like “Finish the girl book first” while other parts in my mind are like “Life is short, do things now, it’s time to move on.”

The words “Follow One Course Until Successful” (F.O.C.U.S.) have been repeated to me often over the last few weeks, but I’m always caught up in trying to decide what that one course should be, and I’m not sure I’m patient enough to wait to get to 100 to see if this course is the right one.

But I won’t know until I try. I just wish I could come up with a definitive answer to the question: is 66 enough, or should I keep pushing to 100?

Although…it should be noted that I’ve asked myself this question a lot over the course of the project. Is 30 enough? Is 48 enough? And that number keeps getting higher.

I really just need to stop worrying about it and get to 100, right? Haha.