The Right Kind of Pressure

This week I started drawing daily for a challenge on Instagram, and I took a video of my sketchbook, have a look! Turning pages and looking back at these drawings is already quite fun, and I’m only 1/10th of the way.

It’s the 3 Materials Drawing Challenge hosted by

Naomi Tipping

,

Charlotte Durance

and Kathryn Boyt, and it’s an ambitious one: we will be drawing for 50 days, for no longer than 30 minutes and using only 3 art materials. 

A drawing from the trip to V&A Museum with the materials used: blue soft pastel pencil, green pencil and burnt sienna ink.

As much as everyone has had enough of Instagram, drawing challenges remind me of what it all used to be about, at least for me. And that was: putting my drawings out there, sharing my process with others, seeing what they work on, and hyping them up along the way. So basically, having, building, and being part of, an online community. The good olden days.

Jumping on the challenge train I enjoy the feeling of doing something with others, even though they’re not only physically absent, I never even met them in person. And yet, I feel motivated, I enjoy sharing my work in all its messy glory and looking at all the beautiful or equally messy work created by others.

Using white space as the 4th colour helps me stretch the limited palette further. It helps especially when colours don’t behave like I expect them to: this red was a great contrast in my head but the pencil just didn’t want to draw nicely over the ink.

Surprising takeaways so far:

• My drawings turn out better than I thought they would. Limited colour palettes always elevated my work, and made it easier for me to focus on what’s important. But something about using exactly 3 materials forces me to make better choices.

• It’s a great excuse to mix colours and textures and then mix some more. Usually when I discover a combination I like I stick to it for a bit, and maybe for a little too long. This challenge pushes me to keep switching things up and to keep the momentum going. 

• I have time for the daily practice. Hurray! Daily drawing practice is something I always strive to have but struggle with because of the inevitable life happenings. And with this challenge, I prove to myself that it is possible. If I did it for 5 days, I can do it for 50. And if I complete 50 days? Well by then it will become a part of me, just like daily meditation did.

Have you ever done a drawing challenge? How was it for you?

As always, thanks for reading.

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