MORE INFORMATION & RESOURCES
On this page, you will find more details about 500K and the YouDraw project that created it. We have organized the content into questions. Please reach out to us if you can’t find the information you’re looking for here.
ABOUT THE 500K COLLECTION
Who are the artists who contributed to the collection?
Hundreds of thousands of people contributed to the project. Some artists more than others, with the absolute record being held by Christine M-B, who contributed more than 10,000 drawings. Because the YouDraw website was in English, a higher proportion of contributors came from English-speaking countries. The USA and the UK are the most represented, but analytics show that the site has contributions from over 170 countries. Artists were free to choose whether or not to sign their drawings, and the platform did not register user IDs. As a result, a significant percentage of the drawings were submitted without an author name.
We hope that the new 500K.art website and the visibility given to the project through social media and the press will reach some of the contributors of YouDraw, and that we will be able to enrich the story of this unique art piece through their individual stories.
ABOUT THE YOUDRAW PROJECT
Why was YouDraw originally launched?
YouDraw.com was launched in 1999 to collect 500,000 drawings for a planned book. Initially the book was going to be printed in 12,000 copies to be displayed in an installation called “Human Factor” aimed at showing the size of the human population. The project evolved when Louis and Peter discovered how much the community of contributors using the tool enjoyed sharing their work and interacting with each other. YouDraw gradually moved away from its original goal and became a place to draw and to interact with the online community of YouDrawers. The installation project faded; the book idea remains, but has yet to be realized.
Will a book be printed?
We would very much like to create a book that contains all the drawings created on YouDraw since 1999. This depends on how the 500K collection and projects develop and whether we collect sufficient funds to finance the book part of the project.
Do you still plan to do the “Human Factor” installation?
Louis is still really fond of the idea, so who knows… maybe one day!
How did the drawing tool work?
The tool consisted of a “draw pad” or canvas that was 125 pixels wide and 250 pixels high. Contributors chose from two sizes of pens and two sizes of erasers. As the book was planned to be printed in black and white, no colors were added to the tool. It remained black and white... giving the project its unique look and feel.
Who owns this art piece and the individual drawings today?
Every contributor to this piece has agreed to these terms: By sending a drawing on this website you irrevocably assign all rights including copyright in the drawing to Youdraw / Louis Paschoud and Peter Holberton.
CREDITS
Design & landing page development: dinahmoe.com
Viewer & info pages development: Mat3
Many thanks to the fantastic people that have made the 500K.art site possible: Johan Belin and Cankat Oguz at dinahmoe, Graham Smith at hicreate, Mally Graveson and Toby Trueman at heehaw , Viktor Grásztity, Adil Ouchraa, Peter Holberton and Louis Paschoud.
