This year was easily my favourite drawlloween yet. Yearly drawing challenges are always a great way to see your progress as an artist. A direct piece of reference to compare back to and see how much you’ve grown. I think that this year I saw my biggest leap yet. Plus the reception I have gotten has been the best too. So I’m really proud of my drawlloween this year. I thought I’d cover the things I did differently that I felt made a difference.
I Committed
In every way I could. That was the secret, really. It’s tough making time for a drawing challenge. This is the first year I did every prompt from one list. That meant sticking with the prompts that weren’t inspiring me. I figure it is important as an artist to learn how to respond to briefs that don’t immediately spark an idea. A drawing prompt can be a great example of this. I was pleased to pull something out of the bag for all of Mab’s 31 words.
Another way that I committed was to a consistent style and theme. I incorporated my bold black and white style in every drawing. I also made humour the focus of every prompt I could too. This made coming up with illustrations even tougher but it meant a cohesive body of work. My feed has never looked better and my instagram followers and likes soared. The consistency of the style and theme seems to build more anticipation for my next illustrations. I really felt like I had some great cheerleaders this time round and I really appreciate all the lovely things that everyone said about my work. A cohesive collection of work also meant that releasing a range of items inspired by this year’s drawlloween made total sense!
My First Ever Drawlloween Range
This is the first time I have used my drawlloween illustrations to create a range of items. I am really excited about launching and hope to do so as soon as I can. I have selected a number of the illustrations to release as A5 prints. Beyond that I have launched some merchandise too. Without revealing too much just yet, it includes a new pair of earrings and a brand new product for my shop! Something screen printed and useful day to day… that’s all the clues you’re getting for the moment.
A Sense of Community
I always find so many great new artists drawing Drawlloween too. It is so huge now that it is a fantastic way to find artists who enjoy the spooky thing in life (or death). I love sharing art to the challenge and enjoying the art made by others during the challenge too. If you took part in the challenger this year, give yourself a big pat on the back. I hope there are many more years of #mabsdrawlloween club to come 🙂