Best Art Challenge Ideas That Spark Creativity

How Do You Do Art Challenges

Do you try to enhance your drawing skills daily in your sketchbook?

Do you find yourself staring at your blank sketchbook, thinking what should I draw? If you do, NFAM has you covered with several different art challenge ideas that will inspire you to create more art and introduce you to some incredible artists worldwide.

It doesn’t matter if you look for cute animals or easy drawings to sketch. Coming up with excellent ideas to draw can be a challenge. You might also find it challenging to get inspired to start a new project.

Participating in an artist challenge is not just for fun. They will also enhance your artistic skills in multiple ways.

How many times have you:

• Started at a blank canvas trying to decide what you will be painting or drawing next?
• Searched online for inspiration for your next art project?
• Stared at your computer, wondering what you should write about for your following newsletter or blog post.

Let’s face it; the most challenging part of any project is just starting.

Going to the gym, for a run, grocery shopping, doing house chores,

and even creating art is difficult when you are getting started.

But once the ball gets rolling, the process seems effortless, and you can accomplish anything at that point.

How can you reduce the time you stare at a blank canvas or blank piece of paper?

One way to develop different drawing ideas is to participate in an art challenge.

What Is An Art Challenge

Art challenges are meant to hold an artist accountable for completing a series of work in a specific amount of time. Challenges range from a daily sketchbook challenge to an October favorite, inktober. Participating in a challenge will improve your art skill, introduce you to other artists, and build your portfolio.

Spark Creativity

Spark your creativity by:

• Looking at other art online
• Going for a walk in the woods
• Going to the beach
• Looking at wildlife images online
• Visiting your favorite artist’s blog
• Going to an art gallery
• Attending an equine show
• Attending a dog show
• Walking through a floral garden
• Searching for animals in Google search

If you find yourself getting into a creative slump, you might want to consider participating in a drawing challenge.

Participating in a daily art or drawing challenge will provide you with enough new drawing prompts and painting prompts to keep you busy.

You will become a better artist painting rather than staring at a blank canvas sipping wine.

Art Challenge Benefits

You might want to consider participating in an art challenge for many reasons.

Here is a list of some reasons you should join an art challenge:

Removes the decision-making – you will never have to look at a blank canvas when participating in an art challenge.

Many artists, including me, have a difficult time when it is time to start working on a new project.

Choosing what to paint (or draw), what medium to use, and what size to work on can be overwhelming, just like when trying to find a show to watch with 400+ channels.

An art challenge removes the thought process, which will have you create more art, and we can all agree that practice makes perfect.

Your art skill will improve faster if you paint four paintings a month rather than one painting a month.

Connect With Artists – joining an art challenge is a great way to meet and network with other artists.

One way we grow as people and artists is to listen to feedback.

Some people take feedback as a negative, but if you use it to improve your art skills and art business, you can watch your career grow quicker than you could have imagined.

Listening to someone critiquing our artwork is difficult, but if you can use it as constructive criticism, you will become a more influential artist.

Accepting constructive criticism does not mean you must use all the advice thrown at you.

But you might see something from a different angle and discover a way to make your artwork better than it already is.

Other artists’ feedback will help you make better decisions and improve your art skills.

Inspire new projects – You might join an art challenge solely for fun or push yourself into subjects you usually do not paint.

The pieces you create could be sold as an art series or inspire you to create a series of artwork you never thought about doing in the past.

Make Creative Habits

Habits are behaviors that we perform automatically on a regular schedule.

For example, my morning routine is to get out of bed, brush my teeth, let the dogs out, feed the dogs, grab a cup of coffee, and check my website’s statistics.

My morning routine does not change unless something interferes with the morning routine.

I do the same thing every morning because I have created a habit. It is now an automatic behavior,

You can create the same habits for art.

To become a better artist, you must spend time drawing or painting.

You will not create a habit unless you force yourself to paint every day or every other day.

If you are consistent with your efforts, you find yourself going to the studio on the same days and at the same time unless something interferes with the routine.

Participating in a few 30-day art challenges will help you make creative habits and enhance your artistic skills.

Popular Art Challenges

NFAM has developed a list of art challenges to help get you started.

These challenges are some of the most popular ones we could find but are in no way the only ones out there.

Ask the artists you meet during the art challenge you are participating in to list their favorite drawing challenge.

Inktober – is a viral challenge that many artists participate in and share their work on Twitter and Instagram.

Instagram challenges – Are you marketing your art on Instagram?

If you market your art on Instagram and Twitter, you will find many different challenges you can participate in.

Here is a popular one many of my friends enjoy.

#INKtoberCreated by artist @jakeparker in 2009 as a challenge to improve her drawing skills and develop positive drawing habits, thousands of artists now take in the challenge every year. (Source: Folksy)

The Sketchbook Project – offers challenges from medium-specific challenges to free weekly creative prompts.

DailyPaintworks.com – helps artists sell their art by posting daily paintings for sale.

Doodle Addicts – provides drawing challenge themes and art prompts to help you get out of your comfort zone.

Paint Everyday Like You Mean It by Shannon Gillman Orr – Sharron shows you how to get in the habit of painting every day, starting with just a few minutes a day in her Skillshare class.

Zentangle  – is a popular method of filling a small square piece of paper with random, abstract ink doodle patterns. This is a great technique to spark creativity; you can do it anywhere.

Drawcember – is a December challenge on Twitter that is similar to Inktober. If you need a creative boost during the winter months, give Drawcember a try.

30-Day Art Challenge

What are the monthly art challenges?

Monthly art challenges are designed to help artists develop an art habit that will encourage experimentation while enhancing their artistic skills.

You can find a monthly drawing challenge for each month.

• January Art Challenge
• February Art Challenge
• March Art Challenge
• April Art Challenge
• May Art Challenge
• June Art Challenge
• July Art Challenge
• August Art Challenge
• September Art Challenge
• October Art Challenge
• November Art Challenge
• December Art Challenge

To see the 12-month drawing challenge, visit Tinker Lab 12 Months Of Art Challenges.

Every month has different monthly art prompts that will keep you drawing 365 days a year.

Art Challenge Generators

There will be times when you can not find any inspiration to draw or paint.

In this case, you might want to consider using art challenge generators.

What are art challenge generators?

Art challenge generators are software that will display a subject for you to draw.

There are many art challenge generators available online.

Here are some of the most popular:

• Art Prompts
• Magatsu
• Some Call Me Beth Art Idea Generator
• Gnomon – Roll The Dice
• Concept Start

Create Your Own Art Challenge

Creating an art challenge is easy to do and will inspire you

and others to create more art.

Another benefit of holding monthly art challenges is that your artist website will receive a lot of traffic because so many artists will visit your site for the challenge.

How To Create An Art Challenge:

• Come up with a theme.
• Decide what medium artists will use
• Decide how long the challenge is
• Decide what social media platform you will showcase the artwork from the challenge.
• Create a hashtag for your challenge

Creating drawing challenges can be a great way to challenge yourself and other artists.

Fun Art Challenges

You might ask yourself, “What are some good drawing ideas?”

Here is a quick list filled with fun art challenges, which can be daily, weekly, or even monthly challenges.

Decide what will keep you going to your studio.

• Sunrises
• Fanart
• Figure drawings
• Clouds
• Bridges – covered bridges
• Rocks
• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Flowers
• Birds
• Dogs
• Cats
• Wildlife
• Horses
• Fish
• Insects
• Trees
• Mountains
• Barns
• Farm animals
• Oceans
• shellfish
• Waves
• Rivers
• lakes
• Boats
• Cars
• Vintage items
• Cartoons
• Comics
• Hands
• Feet
• Hair
• Eyes
• Mouth
• Office Supplies
• Books
• Buildings
• Airplanes
• Sporting logos

Draw Your Favorite Animal

Drawing animals is a popular subject for artists.

Some artists do commission work with domestic animals, while others make a living drawing wildlife.

If you are an animal lover, you can challenge yourself by choosing a different animal to focus on a specific part of the animal, like animal eyes or animal fur.

Devoting a month to each subject will enhance your animal drawing skills.

I get all of my wildlife reference images at Wildlife Reference Photos.

For more animal examples, visit Random Lists.

Random Lists a random animal generator.

Remember that you cannot sell drawings you drew from reference images you did not get permission to use or purchase.

Using a tool like a random animal generator is for learning purposes only.

Painting Challenge

All of the subjects outlined above are excellent painting challenges you should try.

Another way to spark creativity is to paint the same subject with a different color palette or use other-size brushes or palette knives.

Try using different size canvases or two separate canvases and split the subject in half on each.

Forcing yourself to work with materials you are not comfortable with will enhance your artistic skills and keep you motivated to create art.

Creative Art Challenges

Creating different creative art challenges is like a guitarist writing a new song.

There are only seven chords a guitarist can choose from in a particular key, so how can the guitarist create a piece that has not already been written? One way is to change the tempo or rhythm. Another way is to create a unique melody or change keys during the song. A guitarist can write a memorable song by thinking outside the box; the same goes for artists.

Try something new. Try creating the same subject with different mediums or surfaces.

Use different colors or different lighten.

Try multiple mediums at the same time.

I went to an art show this past summer and talked with an artist that added sand and twigs to his acrylic paintings.

I thought this was a brilliant idea. The textures and the look of his beach-themed paintings were unique and beautiful. He thought outside of the box and tried something different.

You never will know how something will work if you do not try it.

Digital Art Challenges

Are you searching for a digital art challenge to keep you creating digital art?

Kick In The Creatives hosts Digital Art December for digital artists that challenge artists to create and share art every day in December.

The art shared can be created with any digital tool, including a tablet, digital camera, video camera, or computer software.

They also provide a free digital art prompt and reference by signing up for their newsletter.

Visit Kick In The Creatives for all of the details.

Instagram Drawing Challenges

Like Twitter, Instagram also has drawing challenges available by _.drawing_challenges_.

If you are looking for new art challenges, visit _.drawing_challenges_. on Instagram.

Artists are encouraged to send drawing challenges to their DMs, and they will post them for all the artists following them on Instagram.

Final Thoughts On How To Come Up With A Drawing Prompt List

Now that you have a large prompt list, it is time to take action and join an art challenge or even create a drawing-a-day challenge.

Use art challenges to improve your artistic skills and build brand awareness.

List every prompt you would love to work on for drawing and painting challenges.

Create an art challenge list in Spreadsheet to start daily, weekly, or monthly challenges.

You will be surprised that you will soon never run out of subjects to draw after creating a drawing challenge list.

Every time you get inspiration, add it to your list. Use these tips to inspire your children to draw.

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