So recently me and my friend Eliaza_Tan (check out her work on Insta / Twitter) decided to do a weekly drawing challenge for practice drawing more regularly! I feel it’s a good chance to help myself get out of art block and try drawing something different from usual, and to limit myself with some time restriction so I won’t get too intense with being perfectionist. Please do check out her results of the drawing challenge too!
I think it’s a fun idea to try for artists. Feel free to try your own version as an idea! I’m sharing how our version is like that works for us. Having a friend to keep a sense of accountability and the pleasant surprise each weekend is a nice push of motivation! It’ll be nice if this can help someone get motivated to draw too so I’d like to share it here.
How it works:
- We choose a random theme for that week – for example, favorite character or favorite drinks. For me, weekly theme keeps me more engaged with the variety than monthly challenges that can make me feel burn out and we try to keep it somewhere being general enough to be flexible to choose what is interesting to draw yet specific enough so we do not think too long on what to choose.
- We draw 6 drawings in a week with that theme – typically 1 drawing each day, but you can have one ‘cheat day’ in case things get busy or you need one more day to finish things up. Giving a bit more of leeway since things may get busy so we don’t want to be too strict on ourselves and hey, sometimes things just happen in the way with life.
Personally I limit myself to 2-4 hours top per day, and not continue the drawing made that day on the next days unless for small touch fixes, but there are times I feel too tired when I do what I can in that day and touch it up the next day to make it look more complete.
On Sunday, we share the 6 drawings we made that week to each other then post it! For me, waiting until the end of the week gives a sense of surprise and suspense to see what my friend will come up with and felt less overwhelming than checking in each day.
Our prompts so far:
- Favorite fictional character
- Favorite drinks & desserts
- Old gadgets (the theme that will show our age lmao we are not young huh)
Favorite Characters
Since I got into merch making I spent my time mostly drawing chibis with solid lineart and cel shading style, but back then I mostly enjoyed drawing digital painting like this! So it’s refreshing to go back to my roots and while it’s a style that I feel I’m still lacking, there’s something relaxing and fun to work on it since I don’t have to stress out too much to make it look clean and neat. I like drawing pretty female characters, especially the eyes and hair parts the most! I try to pick a variety of characters with different color schemes and ones I draw less often.
Akane Kurokawa – Oshi no Ko
She’s an interesting character I was rooting for and wished the story gave more of her. I think her gradient color hair as shown in the anime looks pretty. I considered to draw her ‘star eyes’ Ai form, but decided I want to portray her as she actually is.
Perona – One Piece
There are way too many cool characters in One Piece it’s hard to pick! Narrowing down to the ladies, my other main favorites are Nami and Vivi. In the end I decided with Perona because I think her pink hair and ghost thingy will be fun to draw, horohoro~
Blue (or called Green in some translations) – PokeSpe manga (or known as Pokemon Adventures)
This manga is still one of my favorites media adaptation of Pokemon, I really like how the characters are connected from different generations and taking core concepts from the game but making it different!
Maka Albarn – Soul Eater
The manga had a fun stylish look to it which quickly became one of my favorites back then. I find Maka using her scythe looking very cool and I like seeing her interactions with Soul.
Yachi Hitoka – Haikyuu
Haikyuu is one of my most favorite series with an uplifting mood and inspiring moments. Yachi’s arc is one of the most memorable for me. My main favorite character there is Oikawa but drawing guys is difficult for me lol
Narumi Momose – Wotakoi
Wotakoi is a funny and wholesome manga that makes my heart melt with the romance interactions! She is so precious and at times relatable too. By coincidence, my friend draws her boyfriend Hirotaka for this challenge!
Favorite Drinks & Desserts
This week was a fun challenge since I struggle with drawing the food texture and liquid visual, so it was kinda frustrating but at the same time it’s also nice to think about what drinks and desserts as idea what to get since the weather is very hot lately.
Bonus photo of the mug I draw on the first picture! The mug is just very silly looking I had to draw it, okay! and some people did not believe there’s a mug shaped with that ‘slay’ looking hand pose so I had to show proof…
I don’t know how we got this mug in this house and the others forgot too, but anyway, take a look at this majestic mug.
Old Gadgets
This theme made me feel old lol since it made me think on how many years have it been since I used these gadgets – and man, how technology has changed since then! This batch of items are the starting point of some of my favorite things to do like gaming, drawing, taking pictures and collecting music playlists I like.
Drawing daily has been quite a challenge but it does feel satisfying to see when I managed to pull it off for at least three weeks so far, and being more forgiving to myself that I do not always have to create finished, clean pieces of drawing each time. Sharing it here for my own documentation while also thinking maybe this can be a fun idea for others too to try to get drawing more!
