70+ Fun Art Challenges You Must Try in 2024 - Art Side of Life with Iva (2024)

Art challenges have become a huge phenomenon in the online art community. They are a great way to be more active in the community, get ideas and inspiration, feedback and suggestions, and especially focus on making art.

So I set a challenge for myself – to collect the complete list of art challenges possible!

I have put together a list of 63+ (!) art challenges, which are still being held as of 2023 and have great themes and communities behind them.

Discover them below and challenge yourself! And most importantly, have fun!!!

Table of Contents

• Monthly Art Challenges
• Bonus: Random Art and Drawing Prompts Generator
• Coloring Challenges
• Drawing and Sketching Challenges
• Character Design Challenges
• Photography Challenges
• Creativity and Inspiration Challenges
• Painting Challenges
• Artist Promo Challenges
• Most Popular Art Challenge
• Crafting Challenges
• TikTok Art Challenges
• FAQs – Art Challenges

Why Participate in Art Challenges?

There are lots and lots of reasons to participate in art challenges:

• They help kick-start flagging inspiration and kindle your creativity
• They expand your boundaries and challenge your comfort zones as an artist
• They set you to a schedule, which can translate into better productivity – in the professional world or just for yourself and your own work
• The focus you on making art
• They let you practice, practice, practice!
• They help you get feedback, critique, and guidance on your work
• They expose you to lots of other artists and their work
• You become a part of a larger art community
• They open up new possibilities
• They are loads of fun!

Yeah, I could say a lot more about them, and it’s all good.

I have participated in several art challenges and have had a fabulous experience with each and every one of them. Each of them has helped me grow as an artist, increase my network, and connect with others.

The only bad thing I can think of about art challenges is that getting even basic information about them can be a nuisance.

• Is this or that art challenge still running?
• What is Drawcember?
• What hashtag do I use?
• Is there a website?
• Are there prompt lists?
• Who or what is Smaug?

How Can You Find the Best Art Challenges Out There?

I believe this is the complete directory of art challenges on the internet. I hope it proves to be a valuable resource for every artist and leads to many great experiences.

And while you are participating, remember that it’s not just about your own work – equally important is to see what other artists are doing, learn from them, enjoy their art, and maybe even offer some of your own comments and feedback.

So don’t just tag your own work – use the hashtags to follow others!

I have not attempted to rank these by size, popularity, genre or theme, or any preference on my part.

You will find a list of challenges by month and a more complete directory of all the challenges, organized by type – coloring, drawing and sketching, photography, painting, character design, and more.

If you are looking for a particular genre, like Manga, a particular medium, like inking, or just wondering what the monthly art challenges are, you can simply use the page search on your browser – e.g., “March” or “watercolor.”

At the end of the article, I’ll talk briefly about TikTok art challenges and try to answer some frequently asked questions, but for now, enjoy the list, and get your work out there!

And before you get to drawing, painting, or whatever, you might want to check out a couple of my site’s popular resources:

• Looking for inspiration? Try the word prompts in the Art Prompt Generator
• Wondering how to price your art? Try the new Artwork Price Calculator

Monthly Art Challenges

Looking for ideas to draw on Procreate? Then get my list of 100 Procreate drawing ideas! 🤩

Here’s a quick list of art challenges by month. It’s not an exhaustive list, and you will find many more art challenges in the list below.

This is just a quick way to find out what’s happening in a particular month of the year. Feel free to participate in any art challenge you like!

Click on the name of the challenge to jump to the details. Enjoy!

January Art Challenges

Art Journal January, Creatuanary, From A to Z, 7-Day Urban Sketching Challenge

February Art Challenges

Faerie February, February Faces

March Art Challenges

Magical March, March of Robots

April Art Challenges

April Arts Journey, 100 Day Project, Wizardapril

May Art Challenges

Mermay, Munchy May

June Art Challenges

Kaijune, Junicorn, Childhood Week, Doodlewash

July Art Challenges

Julycanthropy, Kaijuly

August Art Challenges

Doggust, Smaugust

September Art Challenges

Randomtember, Sketchtember, Swordtember

October Art Challenges

Catober, Inktober, Drawlloween

November Art Challenges

Slowvember, Huevember, This Old Thing Fashion Challenge

December Art Challenges

Childhood week, Drawcember

Bonus: Random Art and Drawing Prompts Generator

If you are feeling stuck or looking for inspiration for your next artwork, check out my random art and drawing prompts generator.

It’s a free and easy-to-use web app designed to help you spark your creativity and get moving anytime you’re feeling a little stuck.

• Check it out here: Random Art and Drawing Prompts Generator

Coloring Challenges

3 Marker Challenge

Why not limit yourself?

The 3 Marker Challenge is a bit of a phenomenon these days.

It has super simple rules, as much a fun party game or activity for kids as a social media challenge. Choose a black and white drawing, select three color markers randomly, and color it in.

Some people prefer very simple images to color in, but using extremely complex pictures is a fascinating exercise. It can teach you a lot about color, your own techniques and preferences, and about illustrating in general.

If you want to do this as a proper art challenge, you can post your work on social media using the #3markerchallenge hashtag.

And if you’d like more guidance and nice b&w images to download, you can check out the Three Marker Challenge page at colorit.com – and while you’re there, check out some of their beautiful Coloring Books and Marker Sets!

Huevember

Hue thinks of this stuff? 🙂

This great art challenge will stretch your expressive ability in many areas by constraining you in one specific area.

The idea is brilliantly simple – draw something every day in November with a single dominant hue. You can use different hues, but the “hue of the day” must be the main visible color of the image.

You can use any medium, traditional or digital, and draw anything you want in any style or genre.

You can also change the hue’s saturation or value, not the color itself!

Mark all your daily submissions with #huevember, and check out what others are doing as well – this one has a large community.

More info at matthieudaures.tumblr.com.

Drawing and Sketching Challenges

7-Day Urban Sketching Challenge

Join me in the 7-day urban sketching challenge, where we will go on an adventure of traveling through art.

You will learn a fun and easy way to create quick sketches and colorful scenes inspired by beautiful locations while developing positive drawing habits.

6 Minute Daily Sketch Challenge

A great way to get into a productive routine!

If you are so busy that you have recently found that even art is taking a back seat, you can make a huge difference with as little as six minutes a day devoted to your work.

This art challenge asks you to do just that and then post your dailies on social media for the art world to see.

In addition to setting a routine and re-setting priorities, this is a great exercise in quickly seeing and realizing a concept or image, and you might be surprised at how wholly realized such a quick sketch can be!

There are no rules, so just draw every day for 100 days, and everyday post that day’s work with the tag #6minutesketch.

20 Art Styles Challenge

A very popular, if somewhat difficult, art challenge, 20 Art Styles, asks you to draw the same character in 20 different styles.

Many blank meme templates are available for download, with different styles already specified (like famous fine artists, animation studios, etc.), or you can simply create your own meme with boxes in a five-column by four-row format.

Once you have completed the meme, you can upload it on social media with the tags #20stylechallenge and #20styles.

There is no official web page for the 20 Art Styles challenge, so just create, post and see what others are doing!

Art Journal January

According to the Kick in the Creatives web page, the only rule for Art Journal January is to HAVE FUN!!!

The idea is to make a new journal page every day in January, using specific prompts they provide – outer space, something sweet, what makes you happy, under the bed, and lots more.

Your page should mostly feature your drawing but can also include text, borders, or anything else, and each page should also include the date.

You can work in traditional media, like pencils or pens on paper, or digitally, and each day you should post your results with the hashtags #kickinthecreatives and #ArtJournalJanuary.

There are a few rules, but it’s a lot of fun and a great way to fight those January blahs!

Catober

I love animals.

And big cats and felines such as tigers, leopards, and ocelots are some of my favorites. I just love the colors of their coats and how well they fit into their natural habitats.

And because of that, #catober is one of my favorite art challenges in October.

Whether you will draw or sketch your own kitty, or a tiger in the jungle, tag your artwork with #catober and #catober2022 (or the current year).

Doggust

This is one of my favorite art challenges because it’s all about dogs 🙂

Taking place in August, #doggust prompts you to draw or sketch one dog a day. Considering about 190 official dog breeds worldwide, you could actually go on and draw for more than six months! And there are so many mix-breeds that I think you have plenty of prompts forever(?)

More details and prompt lists are here: instagram.com/dogsinaugust/

Drawcember

And Drawcember is a great way to pass the time during those cold winter days.

Drawcember was originally started by Disney Creates and has had other sponsors and organizers along the way, but for the last couple of years, there has been no official sponsor.

Nonetheless, it still has a huge community and is well worth your participation.

Simply make a new drawing every day in December, using the prompt list(s) posted online in the weeks before December.

Many of the prompts are related to winter/holiday/Christmas, but they are just a starting point for your imagination and vision.

Remember to tag your posts with #drawcember and #drawcember2022, sit back, enjoy a hot cup of cocoa and wait for the raves.

Drawlloween

“Draw upon your artly craft,

Engrave each Drawllotheme;

Summon forth the work you hath,

Enchant us with your dream.

From eldest age to youngest child

Everyone take part

Evoke the spirit, and perchance,

The world may see thy art.”

Taken from the Drawlloween website

Drawlloween may be the most fun of all the popular art challenges and is certainly a great way to get in touch with your inner child artist.

Using the prompts on the website, or your own spooky imagination, just create a new Halloween image every day in October.

Any medium is acceptable, and the organizers encourage “creative uses of art supplies.”

Tag your art with #drawlloween2022 (with the current year) or @drawlloween. More information can be found at drawlloween.blogspot.com.

Draw 50 Things

Professional illustrator and teacher Will Terry created the Draw 50 Things art challenge to help people draw complex illustrations.

The idea is to draw a picture that tells a story, has at least one character, and – here’s the kicker – also has at least fifty other identifiable objects!

You can post your completed artwork on social media – just make sure that all fifty objects are identifiable and that you tag it #draw50things.

Draw This Again

A wonderful way to check your own progress as an artist – or, I suppose, to see how good you already were!

Draw This Again is an art challenge that asks you to find an old piece you have drawn, inked, painted, digitally rendered, or made in any medium and do it again.

You then post your before and after pieces side by side on social media with the hashtag #drawthisagain.

While there isn’t a central information page, you can see many great memes at boredpanda.com/draw-me-again-improved-skills.

Draw This in Your Own Style

An art challenge that allows you to stay in one comfort zone while perhaps at the same time moving out of another.

Draw This in Your Own Style is an art challenge where an artist posts artworks, often OC (original characters), and asks you to redo them in your medium of choice.

You then post it on Twitter with the #drawthisinyourownstyle tag and receive feedback and comments from a sizable online community.

You may also recreate an existing art piece from any source and post it with the same tag.

More information at drawthisinyourstyle.com.

Magical March

A great art challenge to get in touch with your own inner magical anima – whether you are a woman or a man!

Every day in March, you draw a magical girl character.

There are no set guidelines for style or media, but many submissions are in classic or modern anime or toon styles, including manga, Disney, Tim Burton, and Chibi.

In the weeks before this drawing challenge, many people will post prompts lists, which you can use to gain inspiration and focus, but they are not required.

Just post your daily Magic Girl on social media with the hash #magicalgirl or #magicalmarch.

Mermay

What is a Mermay?

Mermay is an art challenge all about mermaids.

Every day in May, you draw a new mermaid, using whatever medium you prefer, and post it with the tag #MerMay and (for next year) #MerMay2022.

You can use the provided daily prompts for inspiration, but it is not required.

This is one that I have participated in, and it was a great experience, especially because of the lovely images created by so many artists.

Such beauty and talent are a real inspiration and helped me appreciate my own work more too!

More information at mermay.com.

Check out my interview with Holly Fae who creates Mermaids, here:

• Ep.195: How to implement art in business with Holly Fae

Junicorn

As soon as you’re done with MerMay…

June is all about unicorns.

Junicorn is an art challenge where you draw a different unicorn every day for the entire month. And, as the sponsors say, “deep down, we all desire to be a unicorn!”

It is associated with the freepik website, which offers paid courses and other services, but the challenge is free, and if you win, you get a free premium account on their site.

As with any of these art challenges, you can also simply post your Junicorns on social media with the #junicorn tag to share your work and see others’ Junicorns.

I like typing Junicorn.

For more information, see freepik.com. Junicorn!

Randomtember

Randomtember is a fairly new challenge, originating from the popularity of random art prompts generators, such as the one I put together here: Art Side of Life’s Art Prompts Generator.

There are more than 1,000 prompts from different categories, so you are covered not only in September but for the whole year and more!

The idea is that you generate at least one art prompt a day and post it on social media with the hashtag #randomtember.

Sketch Dailies

A simple Twitter-based daily art challenge, Sketch Dailies posts a new prompt every day, from which you are asked to come up with your own daily sketch.

While the prompts are mostly characters from fiction, cartoons, and comics, they can be anything, including birds and animals or even the first photograph of a black hole.

Check the daily feed, create and post, and use a #Sketch_Dailies or @Sketch_Dailies2022 tag.

More information at twitter.com/Sketch_Dailies.

Sketchtember

The Rules: 1. Capture your idea. 2. Share.

The Sketches: simple, gestural, unrefined

These are taken from the Sketchtember website, which strongly encourages you just to sketch, capturing something without worrying if it is perfect – or even good – or if it is finished. Just sketch and post, sketch and post, sketch and post, Simple, gestural, and unrefined.

And doing this every day (in September, if that didn’t come through in the title) does seem to bring out a kind of primal, gestalt quality to work.

Sketchtember is also interesting in that it provides two prompts every day – one a single word (finagle, backboard, supernatural, shaken, colony) and the other an idiom (adding insult to injury, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I can’t complain).

The perfect warmup for Inktober, Sketchtember is a valuable exercise in letting go.

Slowvember

Started by artist Jake Parker, founder of Inktober, Slowvember is about shifting gears.

While Inktober sets a pretty hectic pace, creating a new piece every day, Slowvember, as its name suggests, is about slowing down and focusing on a single artwork.

Or, as Jake puts it, “make one thing and make it beautiful.”

When posting your work, you should tag it #slowvember – and don’t just post the finished piece, but show your process and progress as you go along, and also find out what others are taking their own sweet time to create!

Check out my interview with Jake here:

• Ep.22: Finished, not Perfect with Jake Parker

Speed Drawing Challenge

Does taking your time always yield better results?

Professional illustrator Mark Crilley created the Speed Drawing Challenge to challenge his colleagues to let go of their perfectionist tendencies and get back to the basics of illustration.

SDC has become quite popular with not just established or professional illustrators but artists from all levels, backgrounds, and media.

The challenge asks you to draw a character in 10 minutes, then again in 1 minute, and finally, the same character in only 10 seconds.

You then post your results alongside the #10minutes1minute10seconds hashtag to let other artists see and comment.

You can check out Mark’s YouTube account for more information and inspiration: youtube.com/user/markcrilley.

Swordtember

Do I even need to explain?

Ok, I will – the brainchild of illustrator Faith Schaffer, whose site contains a prompt list, this is a challenge to create a new sword every day in the month of September.

A very loosely defined challenge, Swordtember allows you to use Faith’s prompts, the prompts of other participating artists, or even make up your own prompt list. And you can use any media – digital or traditional – you like.

Use the hashtag #swordtember on social media to share your work and see what others are up to – just remember that if you are giving other artists feedback, be careful that your criticism isn’t too cutting!

The Sketchbook Challenge

Sponsored by the Brooklyn Art Library, The Sketchbook Challenge is a 28-day drawing challenge to fill a sketchbook and is intended to “help you cope with your creativity while you are stuck at home.”

The library will send each participant a blank 28-page sketchbook and give them a different prompt daily for inspiration.

There is also a 14-day drawing challenge specifically focused on portraits using a different medium than you are comfortable with.

These challenges are donation-based on a “Pay What You Wish” model and proceeds help support the Brooklyn Library of Art.

More information at brooklynartlibrary.org.

Character Design Challenges

100 Heads Challenge

Can you draw 100 heads in 10 days?

If so, or if not, you’re ready for this art challenge, which builds your discipline and craft and hones your skills in portraying human expressions and facial features.

When you are finished, or at any time along the way, you can post your work with the hashtag #100headschallenge.

This is an especially interesting art challenge regarding following other artists’ posts, as it provides so much insight into different techniques and styles.

Ahmed Aldoori started the 100 Heads challenge. Check out my interviews with him:

• Ep.39: Ahmed Aldoori on Talent and Discipline
• Ep.194: What’s new with Ahmed Aldoori

Character Design Challenge

This challenge will build your character – and you can win a prize!

In this monthly art challenge, Character Design will publish a new theme on the 7th day of every month, and you have 30 days to create and submit your character.

You must stick to the theme, and they only want full figures with minimal or no background or other elements. You can use any medium you like.

This art challenge is organized and run by Character Design References, and more information can be found at characterdesignreferences.com/challenge-rules.

Creatuanary

If you are a creature of habit, maybe a few weird daily challenges will help you break free – and what a great way to start the new year!

Creatuanary is a challenge to do just that by making a new character every day in January. And some of the prompts are strange indeed – fruit princess, pigeon man, mutant flying dinosaur, flower turtle… Well, you get the idea.

Created by Dibujante Nocturno, Rafater, and Joshua Cairós 5 years ago, and still going strong, Creatuanary does help you think outside – way outside, some days! – the box, and create beautiful, fantastical, and imaginative beings.

Ok, I’m not sure how beautiful pigeon man could be, but who knows? I know this is a great challenge run by great artists, and the inspiration – from the prompts and from the community – is fabulous and so valuable!

Find more information at the Creatuanary web page.

February Faces

A daily art challenge for the shortest month of the year.

February Faces is a great way to practice your skills in capturing emotion and expression, improve your portraits, and get some great feedback along the way.

And it’s just that simple – draw a different face every day in February.

It doesn’t even need to be a human face.

Kick in the Creatives is the host of this art challenge, and you can tag them in your posts if you like, but be sure to at least include the #FebruaryFaces tag.

The website will publish a list of daily prompts, but remember that there are no rules and the prompts are only for focus and inspiration.

For more on this art challenge, go to kickinthecreatives.com/february-faces. Or just draw and post!

From A to Z!

A January art challenge from Charlie O’Shields over at Doodlewash, the A to Z challenge starts the new year with the letter A and asks you to create a simple object every day for the first month.

And since it’s hosted by DoodleWash, you can feel free to draw, paint with watercolors or use a combination of the two.

This year’s challenge went from the airplane to zebra, and for the last five days, went from aardvark to ears – as you can see, it is about focusing on something quite simple, and that very simplicity kind of inspires artists to elaborate, invent, and go in sometimes quite unexpected directions.

As with many great art challenges, A to Z is as much about the community and seeing what others have come up with as it is about what you yourself are doing.

You can find out more at the DoodleWash A to Z Challenge page.

Julycanthropy

Sometimes I wonder if the most creative thing about art challenges is the names they are given!

Julycanthropy is a hybrid of July (easy to figure) and Lycanthropy, which is either the delusion that you’ve become a wolf or, you know, actually becoming a (were)wolf.

And as an art challenge, Julycanthropy is all about wolves, werewolves, and canine creatures and characters of all shapes and sizes.

A fairly loosely organized challenge based in the Deviant Art community, Julycanthropy gives you a different prompt every day in the month of March so that you can draw, paint, ink, digitally render, or whatever you like an image.

Then you can post them on DA or anywhere through social media with the hashtag #julycanthropy – then just sit back and listen to the other artists howl in appreciation!

Kaijune and Kaijuly

The name of this art challenge, Kaijune, is a combination of Kaiju – a genre of Japanese monster movies (think Godzilla) – and June, the month in which it takes place.

Created by Riley Phillips of Warner Brothers, this drawing challenge is about drawing a different monster every day of the month.

You can recreate an existing monster or image or create a new beast and work in whatever medium you’d like. Just use the #kaijune hashtag.

And if you don’t have time in June or missed it this year, there’s also Kaijuly – ok, it’s the exact same challenge as Kaijune, but a month later and using the #kaijuly hashtag – and it is also monstrously popular!

More information at kaijune.tumblr.com.

March of Robots

The name says it all!

A new robot every day all throughout March. You can draw or create them digitally, but be sure to hashtag them with #marchofrobots or #marchofrobots2022 (using the current year, of course).

This big contest has a lot of followers and was originally started seven years ago, so you will get lots of feedback and exposure from participating.

Even if you aren’t into robots, they’re fun to draw, and part of the whole art challenge scene, in general, is to push ourselves in new directions.

More information at chocolatesoopstudio.com.

Sailor Moon Redraw

A pretty specific art challenge, Sailor Moon Redraw asks you to, well, redraw Sailor Moon.

There aren’t any other details or rules – simply draw, paint, sculpt, digitally render, and even cosplay the popular manga character Sailor Moon, aka Usagi Tsukino, the superheroine in her eponymous series.

There doesn’t seem to be a central website for this art challenge, but you can see lots of different takes on Sailor Moon by following the hash – #sailormoonredraw – on twitter.com.

Six Fanarts

The brainchild of Melissa Capriglione, who is thrilled that her idea has helped so many people get through this time of enforced isolation.

You draw six portraits of popular characters – from anywhere – and post them together in a meme using the tags #6fanarts or #sixfanartschallenge.

You can tag Melissa as well; she says she loves seeing what others are up to, but it isn’t required.

Either way, you will get lots of exposure and feedback from the community of artists.

For more information, you can see Melissa’s disclaimer statement here.

Smaugust

Smaug is dead, but you can bring him back to life!

Every day in August, you are asked to draw a different dragon.

That’s about it – there is little online about specific rules or guidelines, and you can also get lots of different prompts lists with just a little searching.

Make sure to tag your dragon – #smaugust.

This is a big art challenge, with many participants on all social platforms. It’s good fun and generates some incredible images.

Still, there are all levels of artists participating, so don’t be intimidated by how complex, dramatic or beautiful some of these beasts are.

Anything you create will be appreciated – these people love dragons!

Toon Me

Have you ever wondered how you would look as a toon?

Toon Me is an art challenge created by Marvel artist Rene Cordova, in which you take a selfie and then render half of your face in toon style.

When completed, your half-human-half toon self-portrait can be posted on social media with a #ToonMe hashtag.

This is an especially fun challenge to participate in, and it is also super fun to peruse other artists’ postings.

Witcher

This is not a proper art challenge per say, but such a popular phenomenon right now that I thought it should be included.

These days, two hashtags are seen all over the arts community’s social media – #witcherOC and #witcherlass.

These are meant to identify artwork done by fans of the new, incredibly popular Polish-American TV series Witcher, currently on Netflix.

#witcherOC designates artists’ visions of original characters which might appear on the TV show, while #witcherlass is for original artwork depicting female witchers.

And, like almost any art challenge, you can make your own artwork for either category, post it on social media and get tons of feedback and exposure.

And, if you have strong nerves, watch the show – it’s freaky and a bit brilliant!

Wizardapril

This challenge is the brainchild of Nathanna Erica, an illustrator and paper artist from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

For the whole month of April, you and other artists come on a magical journey of wizards, potions, spells, wands, and everything else inspired by the worlds of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts, Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and many others!

Find more information on Nathanna’s Instagram, and if you participate, don’t forget to tag your creations with #wizardapril!

If you want to learn more about Nathana, check out the interview:

• Ep.124: How to get paid for doing what you love with Nathanna Erica

Photography Challenges

30-Day Photo Challenge

There are plenty of 30-Day photo challenges out there, and you can find prompt lists all over the web and start with any of them immediately.

One of my favorites, though, is the art challenge hosted by Footprint and Fancy Free.

With an especially creative prompt list and vivid explanations of each prompt, this is a great art challenge for any artist who wants to shift their focus or for photographers who just need a little inspiration.

You can post to their Facebook page or social media with the #fff30 tag.

More information at footprintandfancyfree.com/30-day-photography-challenge.

365 Day Photo Challenge

A whole year photo challenge, 365 Day asks photographers to look at and capture subjects and themes they might normally not.

The Expert Photography site has created a year-long calendar with daily prompts. You may interpret the prompts in any way you like and shoot in any style.

While paid online courses are associated with this art challenge, you may also participate by simply posting your daily pics on social media with the tag #365daysphotochallenge. You can get more information at expertphotography.com/365-photo-challenge-calendar.

Creativity and Inspiration Challenges

100 Day Project

Be creative in whatever way you’d like.

The 100-day project, which Lindsay Jean Mason runs, is about being creative and about starting and sticking to something.

Your project can be artwork, dancing, writing, knitting or sewing, interior design, music, gardening or anything else!

The contest runs through Instagram, uses #the100dayproject as a hashtag, and begins on April 7th of every year.

More information at www.the100dayproject.org.

Childhood Week

Two weeks a year to remember and share.

Beatrice Blue’s Childhood Week art challenge takes place for one week in June and one week in December.

You are meant to “remember and show each other our childhood with either paintings, photographs, anything fun!”

Beatrice will post a prompt list before each challenge week and a fun music playlist to listen to while you’re in the process of creative reminiscing.

Use the #childhoodweek or #childhoodweek2022 (current year, of course) tags when posting your submissions.

For more information, please go to Bea’s website at beatriceblue.net/childhood.

Check out my interviews with Bea here:

• Ep.71: How to make the best out of every situation with Bea Blue
• Ep.206: Beatrice “Bea” Blue on the importance of enjoying the journey

Different Art Styles Challenge

A great meme-based art challenge that makes you stretch your own techniques and style.

Using a 9-square template, you are asked to draw a character (including yourself) in 9 different styles, such as Disney, Simpsons, Tim Burton, or whatever you’d like.

While this doesn’t seem to be a centrally organized or sponsored challenge, you can easily download a template from the web and check out what others are doing by searching nine styles art challenge, different styles art challenge, or the #stylechallenge hashtag.

You then post your artwork on social media using that same tag to share it with the community. You can also tag your work with the different styles you used.

Left-Hand Challenges

More properly known as Dominant Hand Challenges, these are not one specific art challenge but a series of community challenges throughout the web.

The usual method is to draw something with your dominant hand and then draw the same thing with your other hand.

Not so much of a challenge for the very few ambidextrous artists out there, but a lot of fun, and often quite illuminating, for the rest of us.

Just post your images side by side with the tag #nondominanthanddrawing to share your work, and see what other artists have come up with.

And don’t be embarrassed by your non-dominant side – it’s all fun!

Doodlewash

A website with great art challenges every month.

While many websites seem to host art challenges only to sell their products or classes, doodlewash wants to have fun with it and help artists in the community.

A different member of doodlewash will post a prompt list every month with ideas of what to sketch or paint in watercolor.

You can post your work on social media using the tag #doodlewashjune2022 (for the month I’m writing this article – make sure to change the month and year to work with the current art challenge). You can also include the hashtag #worldwatercolorgroup if you are using watercolors.

You can also post on their website if you become a member of the Doodlewash Club, but it is not required.

More information can be found at doodlewash.com.

Faerie February

Once you create your first fairy, she can help you with the next 27.

Drawing, painting, or digitally rendering fairies is a magical experience that gives full but focused reign to your imagination and allows you to make rich and beautiful images.

Faerie February is about making a new fairy every day during the month and posting them for others to see and delight in, even as you see and delight in all of theirs.

Be sure to tag with #faeriefeb and/or #faeriefebruary.

You can get detailed instructions and a new prompt list at faeriefebruary.com, but don’t be intimidated by the incredibly sophisticated fairies on display there.

This art challenge is for artists from all levels!

Fauna Focus

Turn to nature for inspiration.

The Fauna Focus art challenge brings a new animal into the spotlight every month and asks you to create artwork based on or inspired by that particular animal.

Every type and medium of art is welcome, as are artists of all levels. A great way to practice specific skills, get feedback from experienced judges and learn more about the spotlight animal every month.

You may post your finished pieces on the Fauna Focus website or social media with the #faunafocus tag.

More information can be found on their website, faunafocus.com.

Isolation Art Challenge

A 30-day art challenge for people in quarantine because of coronavirus.

Isolation AC allows you to work in whatever traditional medium you’d like but doesn’t want digital art or photography pieces.

Other rules are that you should only post work made during isolation, follow the themes they provide, be kind and positive in your feedback of others’ work, and don’t talk about the virus.

Isolation Art Challenge is a private Facebook group, and you can join and get more information at facebook.com/groups/isolationartchallenge.

Munchy May

A nice way to create, share with the community and get in touch with gratitude.

Because that’s what Munchy May is all about. Well, that and food!

Every day in the month of May, you are to illustrate something you’ve eaten that day and then post it on Instagram with the hashes #munchymay and #munchymay2022.

And with your post, you are asked to describe what you are feeling grateful for. The founders say this is meant to encourage self-expression and gratitude reflection.

A wonderful idea and a fun challenge. You can find more information on the Munchy May Instagram page – and now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna get a snack.

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

“Inspiring Creativity 8 ways each week,” the Tic Tac Toe art challenge offers a cool twist for crafters.

Using a prompt sheet as a tic tac toe board, this weekly challenge asks you to select a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line and use those three prompts to craft a new piece.

When posting, use their #tictactoechallenge tag and the tag for that week’s specific challenge.

More information at tictactoechallenge.com.

Tinker Labs 12 Months of Art Challenges

The 12 Months of Art Challenges gives a new word prompt every day of the year, for a total of 365 word prompts.

These prompts are meant to be used and interpreted any way you would like, and you are asked to work in whatever medium you prefer.

You can join whenever you want and participate as often as you’d like. Just post your work on Instagram with a @tinkerlab or #tinkersketch tag.

More information at tinkerlab.com/art-challenges.

Painting Challenges

Abstract Art Challenge

Are you interested in creating abstract art but don’t know how to proceed?

The 42 Concepts to Paint challenge may be for you.

Courtney Hatcher has developed a prompt list of 42 concepts on which to base non-representational art, and her page has many ideas about getting started.

This is not a social media art challenge like most others but a personal one you can take on to work in a different style, challenge yourself and develop your painting skills.

If you still want to post your work, gain exposure, and get some feedback, you can use a generic hashtag for social media – #abstractart would be the most popular and effective in this case.

For more information on the Abstract Art Challenge, Courtney Hatcher’s page can be seen at cghatcher.com/42-abstract-concepts-to-paint.

April Arts Journey

Make your own card of the day.

The April Arts Journey is a great way to delve into spiritual or new age art, to try new styles, or to bring your own way of seeing and doing into an already surprisingly diverse sub-genre.

On 22 days of the month of April, you select a prompt card from the Major Arcana of the Tarot or randomly draw one, and then either create your own version of that card or another image prompted or inspired by it.

More information can be divined by visiting mastodon.art.

Daily Paint Works Monthly Challenge

A new art challenge for painters every month!

A great website and online community for painters, Daily Paint Works, is also a great place for monthly painting art challenges.

Each month a community member will post a new theme or topic for that month’s art challenge, and any member is free to post a submission.

Rules are simple but specify that you should start your painting after the challenge is posted.

All submissions will also be available for sale on the site – in case one of your art challenges was to start making money.

Please see dailypaintworks.com for more information.

Fox and Hazel 30-Day Watercolor Challenge

An art challenge specifically for people who use watercolors – or want to start.

This art challenge is about quick watercolor sketches more than complex, fully realized pieces, and so is a great way for new watercolorists to show their work without worry and get some good feedback and pointers.

At the same time, it is great for advanced and established painters to do a bunch of quick paintings, to get back to the basics, and break free from obsessive completionist tenancies, and publish something they may not be sure is “finished.”

This art challenge is meant for the Instagram community, and you should tag your paintings with #foxandwatercolour.

For more information, visit foxandhazel.com.

The Critique Me Challenge

Are you stuck or need help with your painting?

This is a special art challenge for the Daily Paint Works website.

Normally their challenge posts are not just for feedback and viewing but also to sell the paintings.

But the Critique Me challenge is for people who are maybe having some trouble with a particular piece of art – what should I do next, what is wrong with this, what am I not seeing?

Posting your work on this art challenge will let you receive constructive criticism and advice from the site’s community of artists.

The only rule is that any reference to selling the posted artwork will disqualify the work, and it will be removed.

You must register to participate, but membership is free—more information here: dailypaintworks.com/challenge/the-critique-me-challenge/14.

ArtVsArtist

An interesting concept, ArtVsArtist, seems to be as much about getting the artist out there as it is about getting the art itself out there.

This art challenge asks that you create a collage using their pre-made template, which includes 8 of your original artworks around the outside and a photograph of you in the center.

Just tag your piece #artvsartist and post it on any social media site.

Though there is no main web page, you can download the template from many different sites and see lots of postings at instagram.com/explore/tags/artvsartist.

Face Your Art Challenge

An art challenge that asks you to analyze and describe your own work.

A double entendre, “face,” means drawing faces and facing your own work.

You are asked to draw nine different faces (though you can draw different things) and collage them into a 3×3 grid of squares.

Then you look closely at your work, identify mistakes and weaknesses, strengths, interesting aspects of your style or craft, anything at all.

Write a summary of your analysis and post it with the meme tagged with #faceyourartchallenge. And make sure to check out other postings, which can be quite illuminating regarding artists and their relationship with their own artwork.

To see the home page of the artist who started the Face Your Art challenge, Chao, go to www.chaoillustrations.co.uk.

Most Popular Art Challenge

Inktober

The brainchild of Jake Parker, Inktober was first held in October 2009 and, after more than a decade, is still going strong.

Inktober may be their biggest art challenge and is a great way to get lots of exposure and feedback.

The daily prompts for 2020 have been recently posted, with prompts 1-25 already revealed – flight, elephant, joy, praying mantis, stranded, lunar and so forth.

You don’t need to follow these prompts – they’re there for inspiration and focus.

Starting on October 1, simply post a new ink drawing every other day, or as often as you’d like, with the hashtags #inktober and #inktober2022 (if applicable, replace 2022 with the current year).

Also, check out my recommendations for artist inks & supplies: Best Artist Inks in 2024

More information at inktober.com.

Check out my interview with Jake here:

• Ep.22: Finished, not Perfect with Jake Parker

Crafting Challenges

Just Add Ink Crafting Challenge

Just Add Ink is a great exercise for crafters, Which provides a different weekly challenge theme.

Simply check their site’s Challenges section to find this week’s Craft challenge, create and post your new craftwork and link your post with them.

More information at just-add-ink.blogspot.com/search/label/Challenges

Paper Craft Crew Challenges

Another great crafting site that offers weekly art challenges.

Using their posted image as inspiration, you let your own creativity go wild, making a new paper craft piece and posting an image on social media with that week’s hash.

Remember to include their prompt image in your post and link your submission to their site.

With all of the great reasons to do art challenges, Paper Craft Crew lists only one, and maybe the best one of them all – because it’s fun!

More information at papercraftcrew.com.

Check out my interview with “Paperwolf” here:

• Ep.43: Wolfram Kampfmeyer (Paperwolf) on how to succeed on Etsy and Dawanda

The Paper Players Crafting Challenges

A great site for all kinds of Crafters, The Paper Players has been offering weekly Crafting challenges for years.

Simply check their website for this week’s challenge, create and post your piece and link back to the site.

And once a month, TPP has a Clean and Simple challenge to help you keep your work simple, attractive, and focused.

More information at thepaperplayers.blogspot.com.

This Old Thing Fashion Challenge

Wear your artistic vision proudly!

A fashion challenge involving designing clothing seems a natural fit for this art challenge list, but what about a challenge involving how you dress?

It seems perfect, as it challenges you to bring your artistic sense, creativity, and vision to your daily clothing choices and think about them more active every day.

And This Old Thing limits you to the palette you already have, which may require even more imagination.

This Old Thing asks you to pull one item out of your closet, dress it up in a new way and post the results on Instagram with the tag #thisoldthingchallenge.

More information can be found on Instagram.

TikTok Art Challenges

There’s no denying that TikTok is huge right now and that the content creators there have posted countless art challenges.

These are largely a kind of a “random element” form of challenge – to put an absurdly pretentious phrase to a pretty simple concept.

You are asked to draw a certain object – often a character (there are a lot of anime and manga artists on Tik Tok) and the elements and characteristics you’ll use are based somewhat randomly on questions.

• If you have a dog, make the character’s eyes the color of your drapes and your shoes if you have a cat. If you have both or neither, the color of your favorite shirt.
• If you are hungry, give the character wings; if you just ate, give it a tail.
• If your car is older than five years, draw a sunny sky; if it’s newer, there should be light rain.

This is great fun, but it doesn’t make one TikTok challenge stand out from the others – all the ones I’ve seen and tried have been nice and interesting, but I felt like I could have done any other and had the same experience.

Still, it is, again, a pretty big thing right now, and there are so many that I have just begun to scratch the surface.

There are, for example, some much more interesting TikTok art challenges with more specific and purposeful instructions and guidelines.

They’re all fun, though, and it’s worth checking out – and, being TikTok, they don’t take much time (unless, of course, you get lost in that dangerous endless flow of one video after another).

Maybe the best way to proceed is to simply go to TikTok and type in “art challenge” and check out the currently trending content from there. You can then post a video of yourself completing the challenge or the final product itself, or post your challenge artwork on any other social media, especially with hashtags like #tiktokchallenge, #artchallenge, #artideas, or similar – like the videos, the hashes are kind of all over the place.

Or, if you want a real challenge, create your own art challenge video – and make it one that stands out!

FAQs – Art Challenges

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Hi, I am Iva (rhymes with “viva”). I am a full-time self-taught artist behind Art Side of Life® and a Top Teacher on Skillshare. I have 15 years of experience in the creative field as a concept designer, illustrator, art director, and now freelance artist, content creator, and art instructor. My goal is to help you get your creative groove on with Procreate and make awesome art through practical classes, tutorials, Procreate brushes, and guides on art tools, supplies and resources. About me »

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