At the beginning of the year, I vowed to myself that this year I would do less. I would take it easy and only work on things that I truly wanted to do and that seemed extremely important.

My resolution didn't last long.

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We began with a radical restructuring of the way that Sketchbook Skool works. We closed down the Spark Program — our dozen teachers and I had been we’d been teaching 4-5 hours of drawing instruction every day for our hundreds of members. It was sad to say goodbye to this wonderful community and this extraordinary project, but the reality was that this was no longer a viable model for us.

Instead, JJ and I decided that Sketchbook School needed to be much more focused on the ideas and courses that I wanted to teach, so we parted ways with our wonderful teachers and most of our support staff.

It was either that or shut down Sketchbook Skool for good, and as it turned out, we picked the right path. Sketchbook Skool has been more vibrant in 2024 than it has for years. We even launched three courses in a single year.

We kicked things off with "Your Creative Coach," in which I taught people how to work like artists—to be authentic and imaginative while also being productive, organized, and balanced.

Then in the late spring, we launched "Your Illustrated Life," a course on making a sketchbook memoir. Throughout the summer, we had live meetings, and hundreds of people produced the most spectacular stories of their families and personal histories.

Now, we are launching “The Creative License,” a brand new course based on my best-selling book. I can’t wait until January 1, when the class opens to all.

Putting together three complete courses entirely on my own has been an awful lot of work, but it's also been incredibly rewarding, particularly when I see how many people are getting so much out of these lessons.

I also wrote a lot this year—over a hundred essays, including fifty-two issues of my paid newsletter.

I also decided this would be the final year I’d publish Studio Notebook. I got an awful lot out of sharing the stories of my creative process, but now I have decided to take that time back and focus on new projects instead.

Thank you to all of you who supported me in this endeavor by being paid subscribers. Knowing that I was writing for you made this experience even more rewarding.
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My main job this year has been producing videos for our YouTube channel. I made an astonishing 320 videos this year — 72 were long-form videos, 145 were live streams, and 103 were shorts.

I completed my "How to Draw" series which has now taught gazillions of people how to feel confident and capable of drawing anything. I also started off the "Sketchbook Toolbox" series of videos in which I explain the benefits and practice of keeping a sketchbook diary. I also did a fun collaboration with Nicki Traikos called Creative Kickstart.

Our channel has also grown significantly this year. We now have almost 400,000 subscribers! It's been an incredible way to spread the pleasure of drawing to people across the planet, and I'm so excited to have met so many new and enthusiastic artists in our comments section.

We also launched our YouTube channel membership program, and it kicked off with a bang. I did a live stream video every single day in “SelfieTember” for members, and then we shifted our focus to “Inktober.” It was a great beginning to a wonderful new community.

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Fortunately, I've done more than work. Our personal lives took several interesting new turns in 2024.

We began the year by moving my sainted mother-in-law, Margie, to a memory care facility, where she is flourishing.

Then in the summer, Jack proposed to Amanda. They've been together for more than seven years and are a wonderful, loving couple. I'm so proud of both of them. But don’t ask me when the wedding will be!

That's not the only way our family grew - we also adopted Clover, our second pug, in late September. She's a hilarious and a high-spirited young gal, and is giving Twiglet a run for her money.

I've expanded my creative repertoire this year. I taught myself to bake bread and have been churning out a couple of loaves every week or so. There's nothing like a house filled with the smell of fresh baking!

I also remodeled the studio a bit—I painted the walls and installed new furniture, equipment, and lighting. It’s a wonderful place to spend time and play.

Then, I started drawing with vibrant, colorful tempera sticks. I also started using a new type of sketchbook produced by Ugly Books in New York, which has brightly colored pages. I love playing in this rainbow.

So, 2024 has been a year of pretty significant changes. It was rocky and challenging at times, and we had some health issues in our family that we have fortunately put behind us. We’re all healthy now.

I'm looking forward to next year and whatever excitement it has to offer. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and a joyous new year! I'll see you again next week.

Your pal,

Danny