Well, that was harder than you thought it would be, wasn't it?!

But I bet you're glad you gave it at go, aren't you?!

A great big congratulations to everyone who participated in this July's DDC. We had 16 participants who submitted a collection of 200 drawings.

And a special thanks to these hard core artists who managed to stick with the challenge despite their busy lives:

Greg Rutledge
Gwen Schmidt
Mark Schmidt
Monica Dahlin
Yizhi Xu


It has been remarkable seeing everyone's unique talents brought together in a single space. Hopefully you have all gained some inspiration from this experience, as well as a fatter portfolio! All the best in your continued artistry, and remember, don't ever stop tapping into your creativity and exploring what makes you the unique person that you are!


-the DDC




Time to switch from analog to digital!

Here's your chance to embrace the modern world. Your challenge for this week is to replace one of your drawings for the week with a digital creation. You can do a sketch on your iPad or iPhone, you can photoshop a collage or an image that you've hand drawn, or come up with a whole new approach. There are plenty of Apps like Procreate, Paper, and ArtRage that you can use for sketching on a phone or tablet. And now there's even a Photoshop App! You can also feel free to use Illustrator, CorelDraw, or even AutoCad and Revit.

Here are some examples from previous DDC artists...

Mike Taylor

Suping Li

Rosie Chewning

Gwen Schmidt

Mark Schmidt

It's time to put your pens and pencils aside in favor of some more unconventional media. This week's challenge is to create a drawing using alternatives to traditional drawing tools. You could embroider or paint with coffee like the images below, or come up with something completely your own. Your steamy mirror in the morning is a canvas waiting to be explored! The sand at the beach is an endless sketch pad! Just have fun being creative and stretching your imagination.

Stardust 2 by Marie Yoho Dorsey

Media: embroidery

Watercolor Painting with Instant Coffee by Joe Cartwright

Media: coffee



Time to speed things up!

This is an easy one! Create a drawing in any way you like, just spend less than 5 MINUTES working on it. Hopefully this will encourage you to be more playful and feel less stressed about doing something creative. Consider it a little break! Enjoy!

5 Minute Sketch by A Murderous Mind's Eye

5 Minute Sketch - Elephant by HumanPencil

Let's get started! 

The first challenge for the July 2014 DDC is to create a blind contour drawing. This means that you should sketch something without looking down at your paper until the drawing is finished. This is also often performed without lifting the pencil up from the page. I can't promise that this technique will produce a very beautiful drawing, but it will work to strengthen the relationship between your sense of sight and touch.

Remember, these weekly challenges are only meant to replace one of your drawings for the week, should you choose to accept them. The rest of the time you can just draw whatever you like.

Millenium Falcon by Liam Smith

Portait by Ian Sklarsky

Are you ready for another round of the DDC?! I hope so, because this July we will be running the challenge as part of HEWV's Graphics Month events. Join in with the expectation that you will be inspired every day and that your portfolio will finally be getting some much needed additions!

The rules haven't changed. Draw something every day for a month and post it here for everyone to see.

Want to exercise your photography muscles instead? Join our Daily Photography Challenge, also running this July! Visit the DPC 2014 link at the top of this page for all the details.

Remember, guys, don't sweat it! This is supposed to be a fun way to broaden your creative senses. Anything from a 5 second doodle to an intricate drawing has the power to open your mind, so let it run free!

Posting will begin July 1st via email.

 

WEEK 4: Self-portrait.

 

Now here's a real challenge! It requires the ability to look at yourself and turn what's already a work of art into something slightly less beautiful, but equally as creative. You can draw, paint, or etch your likeness like the old masters did, or you can take a completely modern approach to the challenge. Anything goes!

 

 

Self-portait by Van Gogh

 

Portrait by Ed Fairburn

 





 

WEEK 3: Use mixed media/collage.

 

It's time to mix things up a little! We'd like you to consider utilizing multiple tools when creating one of your drawings this week. This could be as simple as using more than one medium, i.e. pencil and water color, or as creative as using pen and popcorn. The world is full of artistic tools at your disposal!

 

 

 

by Javier Perez

 

by Victor Nunes

 

 by Sandra Chevriers

 

 

 

 

WEEK 2: Perform a color experiment.

 

The aim of this particular challenge is to get people to use a little color in one of their daily drawings. The good news is that the May DDC has been full of color so far! However, since this is a color experiment, perhaps think about how color alone has varying outcomes for your drawings and techniques.

 

  

Images by Chris Legaspi



We will be issuing special challenges to everyone participating in the DDC this May. There will be one for every week of the month. If you choose to accept the weekly challenges all you need to do is create one graphic that relates to the challenge in place of one of your drawings for the week.

So, let's get started!

WEEK 1: Copy someone else's work and make it your own.

Image by Eric Fan

The Daily Drawing Challenge is a jump-start for getting people into the habit of drawing more and rediscovering their own creativity. This is a month-long challenge to draw something every day! And, there's limitless freedom!  Draw anything, on anything, with anything, in any amount of time. To hold us accountable, and document the process and variety, we are uploading our drawings to this blog set up specifically for our challenge. 

The next challenge will be running through the month of July, 2014. Interested participants are encouraged to visit our 'Instructions' page for information on posting their drawings.

Our upcoming July, 2014 DDC will also be daring all participants to accept specific challenges to replace one of their drawings per week during the month. Accepting the dare is up to you, but it will definitely earn you the respect of the DDC team!

Below are our weekly dares for the month of July...

Week 1: Create a blind contour drawing. Don't look at your paper and don't lift the pen until you're finished.

Week 2: Make it quick! You have just five minutes to draw something.

Week 3: Use an alternative medium not typically used to create a drawing.

Week 4: Go digital! Draw or edit a sketch with the help of your computer, tablet, or phone.

Week 5: Draw something architectural.

Drawing not your thing? Consider joining our Daily Photography Challenge, also during the month of July, 2014! Visit the DPC blog for details.

Posting to the blog:

Being a part of this challenge does not require you to post to this blog, however, we highly encourage everyone to post their daily drawing each and every day during the month of the challenge. This will inspire creativity in others and it will encourage you to complete the challenge! Don't think you can hack posting a drawing every day? Try turning it into a weekly drawing challenge. Even a little shared creativity can make a big difference!

Posting to this blog is done via email (do not text). Please contact us to receive the email address that you will need to send your drawings to. Once you’ve received the correct address simply follow the directions below.

Step 1: Fill in the subject line of your email with your name and the number of the challenge day. For example: JOHN SMITH. DAY07 (or JANE DOE. WEEK01 for weekly posters). 

Step 2: Insert your photo into the body of the email and center it (or attach your photo for slightly better quality). More than one photo can be inserted if you like. The first picture in your email will appear as the cover photo for your post in the blog.

Step 3: Below your photos you can include a description of your drawing, i.e. process, media, content, etc. Center this description in the body of your email. (Please indicate if your drawing is in response to one of our specific weekly challenges, which are posted in the ‘About’ section of this blog.)

Step 4: Before clicking send, please delete any email signatures that you do not wish to appear in your post.

If you come across any issues posting your sketches to the blog (i.e. spelling errors, double posting, formatting, etc.) please contact the DDC team and we'll fix it right up.

Interested in joining our month-long drawing challenge?! I hope so because we can't wait to see the creations you have in store for us! This challenge is currently open to the public, so interested participants will simply need to contact us in order to receive instructions on how to post to this blog.* You may also contact us for more information regarding the artwork, the challenge, and it's participants.

Email Mark Schmidt at HEWV.DDC@GMAIL.COM.

The Daily Drawing Challenge is a part of Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company's annual Graphics Month events. For more information on Hanbury Evans, please visit WWW.HEWV.COM.

*Let your creativity run wild! But, keep in mind that posts with inappropriate or offensive content will be promptly removed.