Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Doodle Day Update and a NEW Challenge

Doodle Day started May 1st and never stopped! It was all May long with a new prompt and a new blog post daily and the group of participants on (Facebook in the Doodle Day May group) just grew and grew. We were at 60+ doodlers by the end of May. Doodlers continued posting their daily doodles throughout June and the number of participants continued to grow (even though the challenge was technically over). In July, (at the request of many doodlers) we started posting prompts again. All new, every day! Thanks to the fabulous and dedicated doodlers, I had guest posts for more than half the month. These fantastic guests posted doodle prompts, samples, reference photos, and suggestions on my blog and theirs and our group of doodlers continued to grow. We are now 21 days into August and the Doodle Day participants is at 106! If you are interested in doodling with us, there is a list of August prompts posted in the files at the top of the group page on Facebook. WOW! More than a thousand doodles have been posted with many more locked in the privacy of doodler's sketchbooks. (You are not required to share to be a recognized participant in this challenge.)

As Augusts is coming to a close, we have a new drawing challenge approaching. I have been giving hints and talking about it all summer. This new challenge will run from September 8-21 and here it is...

Character Challenge
which you can call ChaCha! (pronounced Kah-Cha)
 
 
Here's how it will work -
On Sunday, September 8th - We will kick off the ChaCha with a post and a drawing exercise to help you prepare for creating new characters.
 
On Monday, September 9nd - I will post the first Character Prompt. This will be a specific age group to focus on. You can create male or female characters at this age - we are focusing on humans for this challenge. We can work on animal characters at another time. You are not expected to create final, portfolio quality characters. This is an exercise in creating new characters. First drafts, sketches, loose drawings. You will have two days to work on this age group. After you sketch out a view you like, try the same character from the side or the back, 3/4 front or back if you have time.
 
On Sept 11th, 13th, 16th, 18th, and 20th - I will post a Character Prompt with a different age group to focus on. You will have a couple of days to work on each character design/age group. I will not post new prompts over the weekends so you can spend time going back to the characters you were developing on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of that week. In each blog post, I will give suggestions for how to approach drawing a character of that target age. This information may include tips about body shapes and head shapes, websites with reference information, book suggestions, video tutorials from other artist about developing characters, etc... For this challenge, we will be focusing on characters who are younger than 40 years old.
 
At the end of this challenge, you should have at least 6 new characters you have worked on.
 
If you have questions, please post them in the comments below and I will address them. If this challenge sounds like a TON OF FUN, let me know that, too.
 
Until then...Keep Doodling
 
Hope to see you at the Character Challenge!
 
 
 
 


8 comments:

  1. This DOES sound like fun! I always love designing characters and drawing people in general. Looking forward!

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  2. I've been looking forward to that one! I like the name.

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  3. How do I follow this challenge ?

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    1. Felicia, I will post those blog posts here. Just check back on the dates listed. Join the Doodle Day group on Facebook to post your characters if you want to share them (but you don't have to share them) or post them on your blog and share the link in the comments on the blog posts during the challenge.

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  4. Looking forward to this Alison. I have seen your drawings evolve soo much and look forward to your guidance and input. Sept.'s calendar seems freer than AUg. So I'm ready.

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    1. Fantastic, Laura! This is going to be a fun challenge. Thank you for the compliments. : ) Glad to have you in this challenge.

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