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Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #77 - Windows and Openings

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 06:33:00 GMT

Posted by: mific

Thanks to mekare for suggesting this challenge. It was originally proposed by minoanmiss, and is a tribute to her memory.

 Challenge #77: Windows and Openings

 The spirit of the challenge is the way we're drawn to look through openings, whatever those may be. Windows, doors, holes in walls, in rocks, in trees, in fences around construction sites. You can draw or paint the view on either side - someone or something looking through, or what's to be seen on the other side. More abstract or conceptual interpretations are fine as well - a window on the past, the future, the eyes as windows of the soul, and so on.

If you want to create something to commemorate minoanmiss, some of her favorite things were the Minoan civilisation, goddesses, recursive images, and anything hopeful.

Once we reach May we're including mermaid-themed art as well, and mermaids were another thing minoanmiss loved. There are of course openings in rocks and seaweed forests under the waves, and windows in underwater cities. We'll do a reminder about the MerMay theme being added in when we get to May.

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of May.

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Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #76 - Tattoo Style

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 05:03:53 GMT

Posted by: mific

Challenge #76: Tattoo Style

Something a bit different, this month. Draw or paint something in the style of tattoo art, or transform one of your existing artworks into tattoo style. It can be monochrome or coloured, and any topic - fannish or original work, or calligraphy.

Here are a few references to give you some ideas:

A YouTube tattooist talking about tattoo drawing style (mild profanity at times)
A video about botanical tattoo drawing
A Pinterest page of examples (some of these are CHOICES!)

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of February.

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Drawing Challenge #75 - Romance

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 01:42:51 GMT

Posted by: mific

 Challenge #75: Romance

 It's been a heady, romantic holiday season for some of us in fandom, so the first theme of 2026 is ROMANCE! You can draw characters from a romance, or put characters from any fandom, or no fandom, into a romantic situation. Or you can draw and paint anything connected with romance, whatever that means to you - like an anniversary, gifts, or a romantic memory. Make it as schmaltzy as you like, or as tragic and angsty, and don't forget "enemies to lovers", and other romance tropes! ❤️

The challenge will run through February as well, to cover Valentine's Day.

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of February.

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Admin Post: Challenges in December

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 13:37:43 GMT

Posted by: mific

It's a busy month with seasonal projects and challenges. The seasonal card exchange is underway, and we're extending the fanartist rec challenge across this month as well.

Art Rec Challenge: Rec a Fanartist

Pick a fanartist you like and tell us why you enjoy their works - and link us to a few examples, and to their main site or sites.

Any fandom, but only fanartists please, not professional artists (it's okay if they're fanartists who do commissions or have a buy-me-a-coffee, though, as that's fairly common these days.) They can be from any era - from early Star Trek vintage to artists posting currently.

Tell us about just one artist per post, please - you can make more than one post if you want to rec two or three artists!

A round-up post for this recs challenge will be done at the end of December. Happy reccing!

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Admin Post: Art Rec Challenge - Rec a Fanartist

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 06:48:29 GMT

Posted by: mific

Something different for November, as we figured people might be a bit worn out after Drawtober, and starting to get busy with seasonal projects and challenges.

Art Rec Challenge: Rec a Fanartist

This is an art recommendations month. Pick a fanartist you like and tell us why you enjoy their works - and link us to a few examples, and to their main site or sites.

Any fandom, but only fanartists please, not professional artists (it's okay if they're fanartists who do commissions or have a buy-me-a-coffee, though, as that's fairly common these days.) They can be from any era - from early Star Trek vintage to artists posting currently.

Tell us about just one artist per post, please - you can make more than one post if you want to rec two or three artists!

A round-up post for this recs challenge will be done at the end of November. Happy reccing!

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Admin post: Community check-in October 2025

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 03:26:23 GMT

Posted by: mific

It's just after the end of October, and we'd love to have you check in and chat with us. How have things been with you since August? (having just realised we haven't had a check-in post for a while, oops, sorry!)

Did you sign up for or take part in any fandom activities in the past three months, or have you been working on any personal art projects? Are you looking at a bunch of end-of-year deadlines? Feel free to share upcoming art challenges that have got you excited, any frustrations you've been experiencing, possible goals for the next month, and so on. There's probably been a lot happening since it's been a while since we did this, so feel free just to give us the highlights!

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Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #73 - September

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 02:22:40 GMT

Posted by: mific

Challenge #73: September

The challenge this month is what you see on the tin! Anything inspired by the month of September, which might be fall or spring depending which hemisphere you're in - like early harvests, or daffodils and spring vegetables. Or it could be something entirely different from the seasons - this Wikipedia article might give you some ideas. Like September's birthstone which is sapphire, or its birth flowers the forget-me-not, morning glory and aster. Then there are the September zodiac signs, Virgo and Libra.

In fanart, you might draw your favourite character in an autumn or spring setting, or something from an episode that first aired in September. Then there's the expression "a May and September relationship", if that applies. Any inspiration from the prompt is fine!

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of September, after which October is Drawtober time again (our version of Inktober).

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Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #72 - What Makes You Happy (Reminder)

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 13:07:22 GMT

Posted by: mific

REMINDER!! - and extra time.

A reminder about the July prompt which I only just remembered myself! As everyone's been busy, we're extending the deadline for another two weeks, to mid August.

Challenge #72: What Makes You Happy

We all need some positive vibes these days, so this month the challenge is to draw or paint anything that makes you happy, or that makes your favourite characters happy. It could be a person, a place, a garden, a cup of tea or coffee, a pet, a stack of books - anything at all!

If you're into Star Trek, Spock could be what makes Jim happy, or for Blackbeard, it might be Stede. You can draw something fannish, or something personal, as long as it makes you or your characters happy.

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done on August 16th.

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Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #72 - What Makes You Happy

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 03:01:58 GMT

Posted by: mific

Thanks to mekare, who suggested a version of this prompt.

Challenge #72: What Makes You Happy

We all need some positive vibes these days, so this month the challenge is to draw or paint anything that makes you happy, or that makes your favourite characters happy. It could be a person, a place, a garden, a cup of tea or coffee, a pet, a stack of books - anything at all!

If you're into Star Trek, Spock could be what makes Jim happy, or for Blackbeard, it might be Stede. You can draw something fannish, or something personal, as long as it makes you or your characters happy.

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of July.

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Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #71 - Pride!

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 11:25:40 GMT

Posted by: mific

Challenge #71: Pride!

It's Pride throughout June in the USA and many other places, so that's our theme this month. You can draw or paint LGBTQ+ characters from canon or fandom, original characters representing some aspect of Pride, key historical LGBTQ figures, art based on the colours of the Pride flags - wherever your imagination takes you!

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about LGBTQ people and Pride.

It's fine to depict slash, femslash, poly, ace etc. relationships beloved of fandom, whether or not they're explicit in canon. Or show your favourite characters taking part in Pride activities like parades, marches, or parties - anything linked with Pride and the LGBTQ+ community.

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of June.

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Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #70 - Mermay & Marine

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 05:50:16 GMT

Posted by: mific

It's coming up to that time of year again!

Challenge #70: Mermay & Marine

 May is for everything Mermay-themed, and in this challenge we're including anything marine or related to the sea, for extra flexibility and to give options for the end of April.

So that's the oceans and everything in them and on them, including boats, pirates, nautical fandoms and AUs, drawings of your favourite fish, beaches, cute crustaceans, seaweed, octopuses, and of course, merpeople. Both fannish and original works, drawing and painting.

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done on 31st May 2025.

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Reminder - current challenge

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 23:59:52 GMT

Posted by: mific

A reminder about our current challenge - it runs until the end of March, so for another week or so.

Challenge 69: in Spaaace!

Create a drawing or painting with the theme of space.

That could be any aspect of space, like planets, stars, ships, astronauts or alien worlds, and it could focus on settings or characters from a space-based fandom, or be a space AU. Put your fantasy faves in space! Romance in space! A coffee shop in space! The possibilities are endless. :)

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Drawing Challenge #66 - Extended!

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 12:31:38 GMT

Posted by: goss

Hey everyone, seems like we're all a bit swamped these days, so our current drawing challenge has now been extended to the end of July.

The Round-Up post for submissions to the 10 Year Redraw Challenge will be made on Wednesday 31st July, 2024.

Also, if any of our older challenges have sparked your interest, you are welcome to use the month of July as an Amnesty period for catching up on these. :)

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Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #61: Goals & Wishes

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 09:00:13 GMT

Posted by: mific

Wow, where did 2023 go? It's the new year (by some calendars), so this month's challenge is to draw or paint something that represents or symbolises either a goal or a wish that you have for 2024 - and feel free to depict several goals &/or wishes, of course! As ever, it could be a fannish goal or wish, or entirely unrelated to fandom. Whatever you like!

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done in about a month.

Happy Drawing, everyone! :)

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Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #60: Seasons

Sat, 11 Nov 2023 11:11:51 GMT

Posted by: mific

We're heading into seasonal holidays so I thought the seasons could be this month's challenge, including our seasonal card exchange which we'll organise again very soon, to allow time for postal system vagaries.

Meanwhile, take Seasons any way you'd like - it might be fall or autumn where you are, or late spring, or monsoon season, or cyclone season! Draw or paint something inspired in some way by the seasons - it doesn't need to be the current season, and it could be fannish, or original art. Or interpret Seasons in a more abstract way (to every thing there is a season, the season of the wolf, etc.) You could even get a head start on something you might adapt as a seasonal design for the end of the year.

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of December.

Happy Drawing, everyone! :)

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Reminder: Face Your Fears Challenge continues through November

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 21:48:45 GMT

Posted by: mific

Goss will post soon about our annual seasonal card exchange in December, but meanwhile the Face Your Fears art challenge continues, through to early December. Here's a reminder about it:

Challenge yourself to draw, paint or practice something you tend to avoid, because you're not so confident with it. For some people that might be hands, or faces, or full-body poses, or landscapes, or backgrounds, or horses - the list is endless! It can be original work or in a fannish context. Thanks to seleneheart for suggesting this challenge.

The idea is to tackle something you'd like to improve in your drawing or painting, and either practice it several times across the month and show us your progress (kind of like a smaller version of the 100 things challenge), or do a single artwork in which you've tackled it and tried to improve. Another way to approach this is to use the challenge to practice technical things you find tricky, like managing values (light and dark contrasts), or getting perspective right, or working in a medium that's more difficult for you.

A round-up post of submissions for this challenge will be done in December.

Happy Drawing, Everyone! :)

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Drawing Challenge #34 - Toned Paper

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 17:26:53 GMT

Posted by: goss

This month's drawing challenge is all about materials and technique, so the subject matter itself is completely open. Many thanks to mekare for sharing this prompt at our Prompts and Ideas post. :)

Challenge #34 - Toned Paper

Create a drawing on Toned Paper, using black and white only.

Your drawing's background should be mid-tone (any colour), and try limiting the colour palette to only black and white. Explore creating a variety of values with black and white pigments, using pencils, ink, paint, etc. This challenge can also be done digitally by adding a tint to the background before drawing.

What is 'Toned Paper'?
Toned paper is any paper used for drawing that is tinted. Toned paper, or Mid-Tone paper comes in a variety of greys, browns and other shades of colour (blues, greens, etc.). As an alternative to sketchpad paper, you can use brown packing paper, coloured craft paper, or any type of paper that's not purely white.

( Tutorials and other related links )

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done on the last day of the month: Wednesday 31st March, 2021.

Happy Drawing, everyone! :)

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Drawing Challenge #33 - Pattern Design

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 11:31:55 GMT

Posted by: goss

It's February 1st! \o/ We're kicking off our 2021 drawing challenges with one inspired by mific's recent art posts on designing patterns.

Challenge #33 - Pattern Design

Create a PATTERN by drawing elements that repeat.

A pattern is an arrangement of repeated parts or decorative designs. Your repeating design may be created by hand or digitally.

Some links on techniques used to create patterns:
- Drawing Patterns · Creating a Repeated Pattern Design [YouTube]
- 5 Steps to Illustrating a Repeat Pattern by Hand [Skillshare website]

We've also compiled a small list of possible prompts/themes to get you going, but of course you are not limited by these:
- Flowers and plants
- Household items
- Food, fruit and vegetables
- Animals
- Holidays and celebrations
- Winter, Summer
- Hobbies
- Fandom-related objects

Please feel free to use the comment section of this post for discussion of the challenge, suggestions for pattern themes, links to tutorials, etc.

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of the month, on Sunday 28th February, 2021.

Happy Drawing, everyone! :)

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Seasonal Card Exchange Update

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 17:03:14 GMT

Posted by: mific

Hi everyone.

The people who've said they want to take part in the card exchange are:
mekare
minoanmiss
goss
mific
eller
yhlee

yue_ix asked about it but hasn't said they want to join in yet. Need to message me their mailing address details and email asap if they want to join in - same goes for anyone else.

I'll put together the list of mailing addresses and email it out to all the participants later today.

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Annual card exchange and Amnesty

Sat, 07 Nov 2020 07:19:45 GMT

Posted by: mific

Hi everyone - we all need a bit of a break from, well, everything, so there's no formal challenge across the next few weeks.

Instead, we have our annual card exchange where those wanting to join in can make seasonal cards (any type, they don't have to feature a particular tradition or season) and send them to the other participants. We're posting about the card exchange early this year, as the postal systems will be slower. If you haven't already commented on mekare's post about the card exchange, then comment here to join in. If your mailing address or email has changed since last year, or if you've never done the card exchange before, message me or goss with your email and postal address and the name you'd prefer to have on the card and envelope. We generally don't use fannish usernames for RL mail, but you can if you prefer. Once we have the list of those wanting to participate we'll email everyone the list of addresses. Please let us know by Monday Nov 16th if you want to take part in the card exchange, but you can of course get started making cards, meanwhile!

This period will also be an amnesty, which means you can post new works or finish WIPs for any of the past drawesome challenges. The challenge list is here!

Happy drawing, everyone! \o/

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Social media tag for our Drawtober

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 07:11:26 GMT

Posted by: mific

Just to mention that if you're posting your Drawtober works for this comm to social media like twitter, Instagram or tumblr, it'd be better not to use the tag # drawtober. There's been a different Drawtober challenge out there for a year or so, so it could be confusing. I've used the tag # DrawesomeDrawtober instead, on Instagram. Of course no one will be searching on that, but with insta's problematical algorithms I don't ever expect anyone to notice things I post there. :)

Feel free to discuss the issues or alternatives in the comments.

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Drawtober Prompts List Preview

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 06:10:08 GMT

Posted by: mific

Thanks to everyone for coming up with all the great prompts! I've collated them into our Drawtober prompts list for the October challenge - this is a preview so you can start thinking up ideas or preparing, if you want to. Lots of you suggested prompts so it worked out to 2-3 prompts being used per contributor. Where possible I've included prompts with several possible meanings or interpretations, rather than those that were very specific like "cats with lasers" (much as I love that one!)

This isn't the start of the challenge so don't start posting art based on the prompts to the comm yet - it's to announce the prompts list in advance. goss will do a post on October 1st to kick off our Drawtober challenge officially.

Happy planning!

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Drawing Challenge #31 - Shrimp Method

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 12:09:01 GMT

Posted by: goss

Challenge #31 - Shrimp Method

Select an item that you have never drawn before, and attempt Xuu's 'Shrimp Method'.
Share your Before and After drawings.

What is the 'Shrimp Method'?
Xuu's original post detailing all the drawing steps can be found here: How to draw anything: A drawing exercise tutorial thing by Xuu

( To summarize... )

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done on Sunday 16th August, 2020.

Happy Drawing, everyone! :)

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Drawing Challenge #30 (30 Circles) - Round-Up Post

Sun, 28 Jun 2020 15:14:18 GMT

Posted by: goss

Congrats to all our challenge participants! \o/ These turned out so interesting, and was actually much harder than anticipated! *g*

Entries submitted for Drawing Challenge #30 - 30 Circles:

Attempts 1-3 by goss - Original art, G
Attempts 1-2 by seleneheart - Original art, G
30 Circles, Part One by sexycazzy - Original art, G
30 Circles, Part Two by sexycazzy - Original art, G
30 Circles by mekare - Original art, G
30 Circles, part 2 by mekare - Original art, G
30 Circles in colour by mekare - Original art, G
Attempts 1-5 by abyss_valkyrie - Original art, G
Spirals, planets and moons by mific - Original art, G

As usual, this challenge as well as all of our previous challenges will remain open, so you can submit entries to the community any time after the Round Up date. Be sure to tag your art posts with the challenge name though, so that it can be added to the list.

Thanks to everyone who took part in this challenge! :)

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Drawing Challenge #30 - 30 Circles

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 03:30:51 GMT

Posted by: goss

Sometimes the greatest challenge is in simply getting started. Here's a neat exercise that can help with overcoming that obstacle:

Challenge #30 - 30 Circles in 3 Minutes

Start with a page with 30 blank circles on it,
and 3 minutes on the clock.

Fill in as many circles as you can, using pen or pencil. The aim is all about QUANTITY, not quality. Your circles can be random designs or variations on a single theme. Your drawings can even extended outside the circles themselves.

Remember, the goal is simply to fill as many as possible as quickly as you can. The motive behind the 30 circles is to stop yourself from self-censoring. When you go for quantity, you don’t have time to ponder whether your idea is good or bad; you can edit and further develop those ideas later. This is the stage where creativity flourishes.

( Printable Template )

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done on Saturday 27th June, 2020.

Happy Drawing, everyone! :)

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