How important is it to participate in art challenges and what can you learn from them?
As an art student, I have always heard that practicing a certain skill every day helps you better a lot faster. During my studies at Breda University, I decided to specialize in 3D Animation and Motion Capture, but I have always wanted to work on my 2D traditional and digital drawing skills on the side. 3D Animation can be a quite time-consuming process (with lots of planning, iteration and people involved in the pipeline), while 2D speed-painting is much more down to you and the materials you use. I decided to share my personal experience as a beginner pleinair artist and give you some tips and tricks about what I learned from participating in the PleinAirpril drawing challenge. This will hopefully inspire you to learn more while drawing and unlock your creativity.
- Having realistic expectations is the key to success
Whether it's about your drawing skills or how much time you can dedicate to a painting, always be realistic about your expectations before you start. I advice you to see how much time other participants spare on a drawing and decide for yourself if you can manage to do the same. It's important to accept this early on and not feel guilty about it if you missed a day or too. Most art challenges don't have a hard deadline (except if there's a prize to win in the end). The purpose is to attract as many people as possible to join, while keeping it challenging and entertaining at the same time. I knew that April would be quite a busy month for me from the start and I couldn't dedicate enough time to draw everyday. However, I was honest about it and didn't feel guilty if I needed some time to rest. I still learned a lot and I am happy I participated (even if I couldn't draw everyday)
2. Connect to other artists and stay active on social media
Art challenges are a great way to discover new talent and get inspired by what other artists do. I joined the official Discord server for the Pleinair challenge and met many great people there. This gave me motivation to keep going as I saw the potential in myself and felt like I wasn't alone. I received many positive comments about my work and this helped me get past my insecurities. The truth is that you might never feel confident about your skills and knowledge as a beginner artist but one nice compliment can make your heart melt. Industry professionals often take part in those challenges too and who knows, you might get a job offer from them before you realize it!
3. Choose your references early and wisely
Most (if not all) of the paintings I made were based on photo references I found on the internet. It's important to give credit of the photographer/source you found the picture from. That's why I advice you to collect everything in a folder before you start and organize it as much as you can. When I looked at the prompt list and saw the #DreamTravelDestination hashtag being mentioned, I imagined all the places I would love to visit one day. This saved me tons of mindless browsing on the internet and looking at random pictures. When you have to draw every day for a month, time-management is key so be smart about how to use your resources.
4. Go for a walk
Observing life around you and enjoying the little moments spent in nature can spark your creativity a lot more than you imagine. Digital artists spend most of their day behind a computer and going for a walk gives you the opportunity to let your mind rest. I sincerely believe that relaxing is just as important as working on your project and shouldn't be underestimated. That's why I love walking, hiking and doing sports after a long working day. I feel more energized and inspired to work. You can grab a sketchbook and do quick studies of people walking their dogs down the street, sunsets and kids playing football in the schoolyard. Not every painting is a masterpiece and studies can help you overcome the fear or failure. Art challenges are a great way to experiment with materials and workflows as you can improve on different areas such as color and composition (in my case).
5. Reflection
Sometimes you might not finish what you started (for many reasons) but you have definitely learned something from it. You should always try to answer three important questions when it comes to self-reflection and those are: what did I learn, what did I like/dislike about the project and what would I do differently next time I get the chance? The most important lesson I learned from this challenge is that artists should support and help each other grow. Being part of a community (especially while working remotely) will help you build confidence and skill and with these you can dream big and become one of the best!
Thank you for reading my first article and I hope you have learned something from it! If you want to see my art in the future, make sure to follow me on Artstation and Instagram! You can find all of my drawings for this challenge on Instagram.
Reference images I used as inspiration:
- https://twitter.com/akpolyme/status/1143897363469070338/photo/3
- https://www.instagram.com/p/BmS4CjQB6o9/
- https://imgur.com/gallery/Xnv3e
- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/836121487070757089/
- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/836121487070837660/