Four things that I have learnt from the 75 Art Challenge
In March this year I joined the 75 Art Challenge, which was hosted by surface designer and illustrator Genna Blackburn. Her advert for this challenge popped up in my Facebook feed and I decided to give it a go.
The challenge, which finished in April, was to simply draw each day for 75 days with the aim of creating a drawing habit. Genna provided live drawing sessions that you could join and watch her draw with her crayons or on her ipad, while she was talking about creativity and art.
The challenge also included some links to extra classes she teaches on Skillshare and a pdf file with 150 drawing prompts. These were split into 75 simple prompts which were divided into various categories and 75 more slightly more detailed prompts. Genna uses Kajabi as her teaching platform and this has a downloadable app where participants could share their drawings each day, cheer each other on and also start discussions. The app however proved to be a bit unreliable and it was often difficult to upload artwork.
So how did I get on with this 75 art challenge?
First of all, I am proud to say that I managed to create drawings for 75 days. Yeah. However, I didn’t draw every day, even though I tried on the days I was working in my day-job (my work days are Wednesdays to Fridays). On those days I tried to sketch with my pencil during my half hour lunch break and also have my lunch! In the evenings I added colour to those drawings with brush pens or coloured pencils. I tried to keep it simple by mostly using those two mediums. On day three I tried my Winsor & Newton drawing ink, but found that the ink bled through the paper.
The first category was to draw five different objects such as a mug and breakfast. So, for the first day I drew a simple mug, but also chose from the category shapes and patterns the first prompt which was simple shapes such as circles, squares and triangles. For the bicycle I drew a penny farthing with a cute bunny on it and I also doodled. The prompt for day 3 was chair and for this painting I used drawing ink from Winsor and Newton. As you can see, I had to include a cat. I found some of these prompts not very inspiring but nevertheless produced something. On day eleven the prompt was to draw a cat. As I love drawing and painting cats, it was fun to draw and I also used this A4 sketchbook. I am dedicating this one to other challenges.
The day 12 prompt was dog. Followed by bird, fish and turtle. The overall category was animals which is my favourite theme.
The overall theme for the next five days was food and for the five days after – it was transport, followed by plants.
Day 30 is probably my favourite in this category. The prompt was cattails. So, I decided to draw cats with intertwined tails and actual cattails.
The next category was home and as you can see, I had to include cats in the drawings. Drawing at such a small scale is not so easy. This Talens sketchbook measures only 12 x 12 cm.
The next category was hobbies and then clothing. The cat necklace from day 45 was inspired by this necklace I designed .
I wasn’t keen on the next two categories technology and sports. I enjoyed drawing the unicorn and the dragon from the fantasy category.
The next category was places. So, for jungle I added a leopard. The park shows an empty playground, the sad reminder of the lockdowns we endured in 2020-2021.
I didn’t know what to draw for city so drew a daffodil as you can see them everywhere in Cardiff. Sheep are also very common in Wales and these were fun to draw. The next category was shops and the drawings are more detailed.
The last category was simply miscellaneous and the final prompt was fluffy and shows an attempt at drawing our neighbours’ cat Charlie, who is indeed very fluffy.
At the end of this challenge, we also had to post our favourite drawing, which I found difficult to choose. My husband liked the one I drew of our cat Max.
What I have learnt during this challenge is:
- To keep drawings simple when I don’t have much time and don’t get bogged down by minute details.
- Drawings don’t have to be perfect. It was more important to me to get something on the page. When I couldn’t get my drawings done on my workdays I would draw three drawings at the weekend.
- It is best to stick to one medium of choice. I mostly used my Faber Castell Brush Pitt pens to colour the drawings in, my Faber Castell Dual Markers and occasionally my Faber Castell Polychromos coloured pencils.
- I have also learnt that though I can draw anything (even it is not perfect – see number 2), that I really like drawing animals and plants the most. Some of my drawings will also serve as inspiration for future artworks.
I really enjoyed this challenge. I don’t know when Genna will offer another challenge next year, but if you want to create a drawing habit without feeling overwhelmed, I suggest, that you create your own challenge. You could start with 5 days and choose your own theme and then build up on this and extend it to 10 days and so on. And remember – drawings don’t have to be perfect and the challenge should be fun.
Helen x
If you want to see all of my drawings from this challenge, check out this video on YouTube where I show all pages.
You can find Genna Blackburn’s website here.