The ALS Year-Long Sketchathon is an idea that I had to raise money for ALS (aka amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease) in which I make and post a new sketch each day for an entire year. At the end of the year or when I miss a day, the Sketchathon will be over.

ALS is a horrible disease that strips those afflicted of their abilities to move, to speak and, eventually, to breathe. A few years ago, I lost someone close to me to ALS, and I saw firsthand the terrible toll it takes on both the patient and his or her loved ones. It's something that I never want to see again and never want anyone else to have to experience. That's why I'm giving a year of my life to raise money for the ALS Association and their efforts to promote research leading us all to lives free of ALS.

The sketches themselves will be posted to my Patreon website (www.patreon.com/ALS) every day from 1/1/2015 to 12/31/2015 or for as long as I can last posting on consecutive days. If you want to actually see the sketches, you'll need to become a patron and donate through that website - just remember, Patreon charges you every time I post, so a $10 donation will get expensive really quick (although you can set a max amount per month)! The other thing to consider is that Patreon charges about 9% for website and credit card services, so, if you want 100% of your donation to go to the ALS Association, you can always make a one-time donation (or several one-time donations) using the donate button on the right side of this page. In addition to the sketches, I'll be giving insights into my personal journey as the year goes on as a reward to patrons donating at a certain level and plan to offer actual sculpture commissions for especially generous souls.

I should probably also mention that I'm not a professional artist, so you'll likely get more satisfaction from the encouragement that your donation gives me to keep going with this long-term endurance challenge than you will from the sketches themselves. That being said, though, I'm bound to get better at sketching over a year of practice, and I know I'm not the only one looking forward to seeing my skills progress as the year goes on. If you're a serious fine art collector, you might be more interested in the sculpture commissions that I will be making available through Patreon (non-Patreon donors can email me directly if interested).

As a full-time research scientist studying Alzheimer's disease, I don't have a ton of time to sketch each day, but I'm looking forward to the motivation that your donation will provide to get me through an whole year of sketching and posting.

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Sketchathon website, and we are indebted to you for your donation!

Stop by to say hi to me on Twitter: 

@ALS_Sketchathon

or like the Sketchathon's Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/ALS-Year-Long-Sketchathon/792479390800389

If you do not want to donate online, you can download an offline donation form by clicking here.