Weekly Art Challenges

Apr 26 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #34 (Apr 26th - May 2nd): Create a scene’s characters We saw some great backgrounds last week! Now here comes the second part: Drawing in a character or subject. But, you won’t be using your own background. You will be choosing someone else’s! Check the Challenge 33 tag and find a background you can bring life to! Here are some points to remember: Be aware of the background’s perspective. What angle was it “shot” from? Where will your character or subject be, and from what angle will you be seeing them? What mood does the background have? Is it light, dark? dull or colorful? Make your subject fit into the world of your chosen background by using similar palettes or line styles, etc. Don’t just draw someone standing around in the scene, convey a story in some way! Imagine you’re watching a play or animated feature; something is going on in that scene, so tell it! :) If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).  -Zen

Weekly Art Challenge #34 (Apr 26th - May 2nd): Create a scene’s characters

We saw some great backgrounds last week! Now here comes the second part: Drawing in a character or subject. But, you won’t be using your own background. You will be choosing someone else’s! Check the Challenge 33 tag and find a background you can bring life to! Here are some points to remember:

  • Be aware of the background’s perspective. What angle was it “shot” from? Where will your character or subject be, and from what angle will you be seeing them?
  • What mood does the background have? Is it light, dark? dull or colorful? Make your subject fit into the world of your chosen background by using similar palettes or line styles, etc.
  • Don’t just draw someone standing around in the scene, convey a story in some way! Imagine you’re watching a play or animated feature; something is going on in that scene, so tell it! :)

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). 

-Zen

37 notes

Apr 19 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #33 (Apr 19th - Apr 25th): Create a scene’s background This isn’t just your average background practice. There’s something a little special about this challenge, because for this round we’re going to focus on something extra: You’ll be creating a background for characters to be in. Your background should be a setting, a place where if you were to draw characters, where they could stand, or sit, or jump! But don’t draw any characters. Just the setting! Some key things to focus on: Your backgrounds should be finished/fully rendered, or as clean as possible.  There should be a feeling of openess; as if your piece is missing a key element to make it whole (That’s for next week! ;D) Make it interesting! Your background may be used by others in the next challenge, so make your backgrounds impressive! I hate to spoil next week’s challenge but it’s kind of obvious now, isn’t it? It may help if you think of this challenge as an animated film. Provide a space for characters to be in. :) We won’t be accepting any pieces that are just pencil sketches or unfinished. Give it your all this week, not just for yourself, but for those participating in next week’s challenge too! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).  -Zen

Weekly Art Challenge #33 (Apr 19th - Apr 25th): Create a scene’s background

This isn’t just your average background practice. There’s something a little special about this challenge, because for this round we’re going to focus on something extra: You’ll be creating a background for characters to be in. Your background should be a setting, a place where if you were to draw characters, where they could stand, or sit, or jump! But don’t draw any characters. Just the setting!

Some key things to focus on:

  • Your backgrounds should be finished/fully rendered, or as clean as possible. 
  • There should be a feeling of openess; as if your piece is missing a key element to make it whole (That’s for next week! ;D)

Make it interesting! Your background may be used by others in the next challenge, so make your backgrounds impressive! I hate to spoil next week’s challenge but it’s kind of obvious now, isn’t it? It may help if you think of this challenge as an animated film. Provide a space for characters to be in. :) We won’t be accepting any pieces that are just pencil sketches or unfinished. Give it your all this week, not just for yourself, but for those participating in next week’s challenge too!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). 

-Zen

47 notes

Apr 12 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #32 (Apr.12 - Apr.18): Pose and Posture Sounds easy enough, right? Think again! A lot of us struggle with drawing our subjects in appealing and anatomically correct poses. Is there enough movement? How does this pose work with the composition? Would my character walk this way? There are so many questions to ask yourself when drawing a character’s pose! Posemanics is a great reference website! Use one of these images, or make up your own pose! It doesn’t have to be anatomically correct, it just has to be dynamic!! No stiff, boring poses here! (Unless of course, your art is naturally full of movement and you have trouble with stiff poses, for example.) Do something you’ve never tried before and challenge your ideas of interesting poses! Try to not only focus on your character’s posture, but also consider the angle you’re viewing the subject at, the composition of your piece, and what is happening in your character’s setting! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).  Go for it!! -Zen

Weekly Art Challenge #32 (Apr.12 - Apr.18): Pose and Posture

Sounds easy enough, right? Think again! A lot of us struggle with drawing our subjects in appealing and anatomically correct poses. Is there enough movement? How does this pose work with the composition? Would my character walk this way? There are so many questions to ask yourself when drawing a character’s pose!

Posemanics is a great reference website! Use one of these images, or make up your own pose! It doesn’t have to be anatomically correct, it just has to be dynamic!! No stiff, boring poses here! (Unless of course, your art is naturally full of movement and you have trouble with stiff poses, for example.) Do something you’ve never tried before and challenge your ideas of interesting poses! Try to not only focus on your character’s posture, but also consider the angle you’re viewing the subject at, the composition of your piece, and what is happening in your character’s setting!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). 

Go for it!!

-Zen

93 notes

Apr 06 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #31 (Apr.5 - Apr.11): Create two characters with the same eye, hair and skin color.  There’s this really important thing about character design that is making them distinctive. It’s not uncommon to find people who have the problem of making “cookie-cut” characters: characters that can only be told apart from eachother because of their hair and eyes. Other than that, they’re basically the same. With this week’s challenge we’ll try to beat that!  So, the challenge is to create two characters. Keep the same hair, eye and skin colour, yet make them look different. Let us tell one character from the other with ease. Try to convince us (and yourself) that they are two separate entities (avoid creating identical twins, etc…). Try to make them as different as possible, though keeping the similarities we’re asking for! If you want to go further with this challenge: try giving them the same hairstyle, or a very similar one. Let’s see how you do! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).  Give it your best! - Kuri

Weekly Art Challenge #31 (Apr.5 - Apr.11): Create two characters with the same eye, hair and skin color. 

There’s this really important thing about character design that is making them distinctive. It’s not uncommon to find people who have the problem of making “cookie-cut” characters: characters that can only be told apart from eachother because of their hair and eyes. Other than that, they’re basically the same. With this week’s challenge we’ll try to beat that! 

So, the challenge is to create two characters. Keep the same hair, eye and skin colour, yet make them look different. Let us tell one character from the other with ease. Try to convince us (and yourself) that they are two separate entities (avoid creating identical twins, etc…). Try to make them as different as possible, though keeping the similarities we’re asking for! If you want to go further with this challenge: try giving them the same hairstyle, or a very similar one. Let’s see how you do!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). 

Give it your best!

- Kuri

183 notes

Mar 29 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #30 (Mar.29 - Apr.4): Create a character who belongs to a race/species created by someone else for Challenge #29. We got a lot of wonderful designs for Challenge #29. Did you have a favourite in there? Anything special that catched your attention? Well, now’s your chance to show your appreciation towards them, in our next community-love centered Weekly Art Challenge! (sorry if it sounds too cheesy, I couldn’t help myself) So, what is this about? You have to take a look at our submissions for Challenge #29, choose a race/species that you like, and create a character of said race/species. Read the description carefully, see how they’ll fit in the world intented by the original artist, what will they do? how do they act? Go creative with it, while keeping it consistent with the original design and description. Remember to credit the artist who created the race/species you used for your submission! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).  - Kuri

Weekly Art Challenge #30 (Mar.29 - Apr.4): Create a character who belongs to a race/species created by someone else for Challenge #29.

We got a lot of wonderful designs for Challenge #29. Did you have a favourite in there? Anything special that catched your attention? Well, now’s your chance to show your appreciation towards them, in our next community-love centered Weekly Art Challenge! (sorry if it sounds too cheesy, I couldn’t help myself)

So, what is this about? You have to take a look at our submissions for Challenge #29, choose a race/species that you like, and create a character of said race/species. Read the description carefully, see how they’ll fit in the world intented by the original artist, what will they do? how do they act? Go creative with it, while keeping it consistent with the original design and description. Remember to credit the artist who created the race/species you used for your submission!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). 

- Kuri

21 notes

Mar 22 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #29 (Mar.22 - Mar.28): Create a race or species. And here it goes, another one of those “title is pretty much self-explanatory” challenges…creating a race or species, just that! Now, it’s not just making a simple picture of said species and saying “that’s it”…we want some more insight! Descriptions, what do they do? how do they act? where do they live? there’s a lot that you can say about it! Let your imagination run wild, create new worlds, and the people and/or creatures who live in it. Show us something new and impressive! (PS.: the picture is of a character I made a couple years ago, of a species I called Micros. I should retake that world, it was pretty cool…) If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).  - Kuri

Weekly Art Challenge #29 (Mar.22 - Mar.28): Create a race or species.

And here it goes, another one of those “title is pretty much self-explanatory” challenges…creating a race or species, just that! Now, it’s not just making a simple picture of said species and saying “that’s it”…we want some more insight! Descriptions, what do they do? how do they act? where do they live? there’s a lot that you can say about it! Let your imagination run wild, create new worlds, and the people and/or creatures who live in it. Show us something new and impressive!

(PS.: the picture is of a character I made a couple years ago, of a species I called Micros. I should retake that world, it was pretty cool…)

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). 

- Kuri

93 notes

Mar 15 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #28 (Mar.15 - Mar.21): Illustrate a conflict. The word conflict generally makes one think of two or more people fighting or having a disagreement, but there are many ways a conflict, a disagreement, a problem can be expressed visually! Two characters could yell or throw plates around the room over a series of panels. Or use emotion to visually capture a character’s internal conflict with a choice they must make. Generalize it even further and show us a clash between colors, or scenery. Pay attention to color and contrast; these two things have a huge effect on the mood of a piece and conflicts usually have quite a bit of emotion to them! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).  -Zen

Weekly Art Challenge #28 (Mar.15 - Mar.21): Illustrate a conflict.

The word conflict generally makes one think of two or more people fighting or having a disagreement, but there are many ways a conflict, a disagreement, a problem can be expressed visually! Two characters could yell or throw plates around the room over a series of panels. Or use emotion to visually capture a character’s internal conflict with a choice they must make. Generalize it even further and show us a clash between colors, or scenery. Pay attention to color and contrast; these two things have a huge effect on the mood of a piece and conflicts usually have quite a bit of emotion to them!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). 

-Zen

42 notes

Mar 08 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #27 (Mar.8 - Mar.14): Create a comic using the template below:(the click-through leads to the full view size of the template!!!) Fun fact: This is actually one of the first prompts we wrote for Weekly Art Challenges! Why haven’t we used it until now, though? I honestly have no idea. There’s this really fun thing you can do with comics which is playing with panels. Shape, size, location…there are almost no limits as to what you can do with them! But now, we’re going to go with something different: forget about that and take some fixed panels from us! ahaha! …okay, no, but seriously! This challenge is just about that: take the template we give you, and make a comic with it, about anything you want. As simple as that! Looking at the bright side, you won’t have to focus on panel placement: we did that already, which means less work for you! Now, what can you do with a generic square for a panel? You can work with “camera” angles, zoom, placing objects, characters and dialogues inside the panel…and what seems to be a limitation is actually a challenge for you to come up with something creative! So go for it! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).  Now, take our panels and fill them in! - Zen & Kuri

Weekly Art Challenge #27 (Mar.8 - Mar.14): Create a comic using the template below:(the click-through leads to the full view size of the template!!!)

Fun fact: This is actually one of the first prompts we wrote for Weekly Art Challenges! Why haven’t we used it until now, though? I honestly have no idea.

There’s this really fun thing you can do with comics which is playing with panels. Shape, size, location…there are almost no limits as to what you can do with them! But now, we’re going to go with something different: forget about that and take some fixed panels from us! ahaha! …okay, no, but seriously! This challenge is just about that: take the template we give you, and make a comic with it, about anything you want. As simple as that!

Looking at the bright side, you won’t have to focus on panel placement: we did that already, which means less work for you! Now, what can you do with a generic square for a panel? You can work with “camera” angles, zoom, placing objects, characters and dialogues inside the panel…and what seems to be a limitation is actually a challenge for you to come up with something creative! So go for it!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). 

Now, take our panels and fill them in!

- Zen & Kuri

64 notes

Mar 01 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #26 (Mar.1 - Mar.7): Work with silhouettes. (suggested by fervidusparty) This week’s challenge, in the words of our suggestor: “I had kind of a neat idea for a weekly art challenge! It’d be cool to do character silhouettes, either show one character’s personality in one or more silhouettes (preferrably one!) or show multiple characters’ contrasting personalities in interacting silhouettes. Just a thought!” Paying attention to silhouettes when drawing is actually very useful! The right use of silhouettes can give your pictures more clarity when it comes to body language and expressions in general. And here’s your chance to work on this! Focus on placement, negative space, et cetera, and show us what you can do!  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).  Have fun and challenge yourselves! - Kuri

Weekly Art Challenge #26 (Mar.1 - Mar.7): Work with silhouettes. (suggested by fervidusparty)

This week’s challenge, in the words of our suggestor: “I had kind of a neat idea for a weekly art challenge! It’d be cool to do character silhouettes, either show one character’s personality in one or more silhouettes (preferrably one!) or show multiple characters’ contrasting personalities in interacting silhouettes. Just a thought!”

Paying attention to silhouettes when drawing is actually very useful! The right use of silhouettes can give your pictures more clarity when it comes to body language and expressions in general. And here’s your chance to work on this! Focus on placement, negative space, et cetera, and show us what you can do! 

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). 

Have fun and challenge yourselves!

- Kuri

77 notes

Feb 16 2012 ∞
Weekly Art Challenge #25 (Feb 16th - Feb 22nd): Create a piece that represents an era. This one is pretty simple and fun!! There are certain images and styles that instantly remind us of days long since past. The clean cut images of the industrial age, or the retro spacey designs of the atomic age. Who doesn’t think of the 20’s when they see a classic Mickey Mouse? You can also consider the fashions of these times, or something like those pin-up Cola-Cola advertisements from the 50’s. Is there a style you really enjoy that clearly represents a place in time?  Now’s your chance to play around with it! If you use references (encouraged!!) please link them! Teach everyone about the era of art you chose. There are no limitations on what you can and cannot draw, but please do include a description or link to something telling us what era it’s inspired by!  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!). - Zen

Weekly Art Challenge #25 (Feb 16th - Feb 22nd): Create a piece that represents an era.

This one is pretty simple and fun!! There are certain images and styles that instantly remind us of days long since past. The clean cut images of the industrial age, or the retro spacey designs of the atomic age. Who doesn’t think of the 20’s when they see a classic Mickey Mouse? You can also consider the fashions of these times, or something like those pin-up Cola-Cola advertisements from the 50’s. Is there a style you really enjoy that clearly represents a place in time? 

Now’s your chance to play around with it! If you use references (encouraged!!) please link them! Teach everyone about the era of art you chose. There are no limitations on what you can and cannot draw, but please do include a description or link to something telling us what era it’s inspired by! 

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! We’ll give you an answer as soon as possible. Once you’re done, go to our submission page and send it in! We’ll be posting everyone’s work during the week. If you don’t make it in time, just post your submission on your own blog tagging it as weekly art challenges (and track that tag if you want to see more submissions!).

- Zen

53 notes

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