What I learned from the 30-Day Sketch Challenge

My dear readers, if you’ve missed out on what the 30-day challenge was, here is the original post. You can view the sketches itself here on our Facebook page. Do remember to ‘like’ us if you want to follow future creative challenges that I take on 🙂 Below I’ll be showing you my favorites and wrapping up the MOST important takeaways about creativity and inspiration that hopefully would help you in YOUR journey of creative self-exploration.


Since the 30-day challenge ended with the successful completion of (almost) daily sketches, I’ve had time to think about what I learned in this exercise. While I have no trouble delivering final creations for clients that I’m happy about, it can sometimes be a challenge to get the idea going if I’m feeling uninspired. When Lady Muse fails to visit, I would sit for hours trying to come up with something.

Drawing from imagination stopped when I started high school and in recent years has been very new to me so unlike many illustrators and artists who have no trouble filling piles of sketchbooks, I’ve never been much of a sketcher/doodler, even during my architectural training days. I have a tendency to place myself under enormous pressure to ‘deliver’ the perfect drawing, private sketchbook/journal notwithstanding.


So I sought to change this habit with this challenge. I wanted to loosen up, to draw from the heart, to fight perfectionism, to make drawing natural and soulful again. Too many years of rigid architecture and design practice gave me a very heavy hand, which while serves certain purposes, prevented me from truly expressing what I wanted to through my art.

When I started this challenge, I had to force myself to put pen to paper, to just let the pen guide me, clichĂ©d as it may sound, but it worked. I didn’t always like what I drew, but it pushed me to create more till I did something I liked. Some days were harder than others, and some days, the drawing drew itself in my head almost magically, and all I had to do was to bring it to life on paper. It sometimes scares me to think that had I not persisted day after day, perhaps those magic moments might never come.

There is truth in all that the creative greats have said: don’t wait till the muse comes knocking on the door, engage in the act religiously and ritualistically, and it will come, eventually, inevitably.


What works and important things I’ve learned:

  • Limitation works; create imaginary boundaries: limit the color palette, limit the medium (pen, pencil, etc), limit the topic/concept.
  • Free association works, just draw blobs and doodle till something comes.
  • Practice, practice, practice. Do it everyday, even if nothing special comes to mind. If nothing, the sense of accomplishment at assessing your body of work at the end of the challenge will be powerful in itself.
  • Draw from the heart and not seeking approval works. It’s hard at first to ignore that I will be exposing my little naked sketches to the world and its judgment, but really, vulnerability is the only way to be truly creative. It HAS to come from the heart, if not, it’s not worth it.
  • Draw what moves you, learn to emote; for me, evoking a mood or emotion through my little sketches was important and I thought about how to do this every single time.
  • It’s true, ‘Clarity comes from engagement’-Marie Forleo.
  • Again, I can’t stress enough that having something to show for your efforts at the end of a challenge is enormously fulfilling and will inspire you to make and create more! Definitely one of the best takeaways from the exercise.

So did I achieve what I set out to do with this challenge? Yes, it was a tremendously enlightening exercise and I highly encourage everyone to find a 30-day challenge for themselves. I’ve learned so much and surprised myself in the process at how little it takes to create a body of work by just doing a little bit day by day and practicing even when the muse is on vacation. Have I found my voice? I think it’s still early in the game yet, but I’m very encouraged and excited, right now I’m conjuring future spins on this challenge, perhaps in different themes!

Forward this post or share it on twitter if you think someone you know might benefit from starting a creative challenge! And stay tuned for our next 30-day creative challenge, simply titled “Imagine..”