Sometimes I have been in a creative mood but have no idea what I should draw... other times I've had full out art blocks where I just don't have the will to create. One thing that has helped me through both of these things are art prompts - or daily drawing communities.
These are communities that give a topic each day or week, and you make a drawing based on the topic provided.
Why are art prompts and daily drawing groups so great to participate in?
- Creativity. Drawing as often possible really helps build your skills, but it can sometimes be challenging to find a topic. These groups give you the topic - taking the idea work away and letting you focus on just drawing.
- Comfort Zones!! We get comfortable and stick with what we know. The second reason I love prompts & challenges is because the topics might take you out of your comfort zone and get you to try something you would have never drawn otherwise. You might even find a new topic that you absolutely love and want to explore further!
- Communication and sharing. Most of these art prompt / daily drawing groups have a community where you can share your artwork. As you interact with other artists online you can gain valuable feedback that you wouldn't get if your art was just sitting in your sketchbook. Sharing your art with others and being part of a community can help motivate you to continue on in your challenge. Plus interacting with people on a daily basis about your artwork will help you build the confidence and skills you need to promote and sell your own artwork, too.
In all, these groups and challenges can be a really positive experience! I've compiled a list of some of the ones I have found, and often follow.
1. Illustration Friday
Illustration Friday is the first art prompt group I ever participated in. It has been around for years and has developed a really large following! The ideas are generated weekly and you have the option of submitting your illustration - they pick a winner every week and feature them on their blog. Find them on most of the large social media outlets, or sign up for their newsletter to receive the new topics in your email.
2. Animal Alphabets
This is one I recently stumbled upon on twitter! I tweeted about my red panda drawing, and it was super popular that day. It turns out that Red Panda was the Animal Alphabets drawing of the week! By happy accident I ended up following animal alphabets and I am so glad I found it. This charming art prompt group follows the alphabet to give you animal names that starts with that weeks letter. Since I started following the art prompts have given animals like S for snow leopard, T for Tansy Beetle & U for Ulysses butterfly. The art prompts are weekly and you add your drawing every Monday! To share your art with the group simply add your new work to twitter with the hashtag #animalalphabets. If you love to draw and love animals, follow this one on twitter or Instagram - you won't regret it!
3. Sketch Daily
Here is one for you redditers out there! Sketch Daily provides you a topic every single day. This friendly & active community welcomes discussion and is a good one to do if you are looking for daily sketchbook prompts. You can even request for critiques which is great for those who are looking to improve their skills. Topics are super random - this is a group that is bound to get you out of your comfort zone! From waterfalls to gods, to the sailor moon squad... you will be finding new ways to draw them all.
4. Colour Collective
Colour Collective is another really interesting one for twitter users. Instead of giving you a topic, it gives you a colour! Subject matter can be anything and everything - as long as you create it. Check out #colour_collective to see the artwork people have made for this one - its a fantastic exercise for those who love controlled colour palettes and use colour as an expression. They announce a new colour every Saturday, and everyone shares their artwork together using the hashtag #colour_collective every Friday.
5. Daily Draw
This is a quieter community on Reddit, but it is certainly a valuable art prompt tool if you are looking for inspiration for your next drawing! The community here is smaller but friendly, so this might be a good one for getting used to an art prompt community. This drawing prompt subreddit gives you a topic every single day, and is always open for suggestions from its users. It challenges you to draw every single day for as many consecutive amount of days possible, and features the users with the longest streak in their weekly discussions!
Or you can make your own!
Have you found a topic you love and just want to stay motivated to draw every day? Create your own personal challenge around your topic! If you are using Instagram, Tumblr or twitter use the hashtag #dailydrawing to find other artists doing similar challenges. Pick an amount of days to create a new drawing and stick to it! Here are some great examples of artists who took a challenge and ran with it.
- Jillian Gomez on Instagram (did a 100 day surface design pattern challenge) use hashtag #100dayproject if you are doing a similar challenge!
Have you created your own drawing challenge or joined a great drawing community? Let me know about it in the comments below and I will add it to my list!
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- Tanya
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